Louder Than Words
by Solstice Muse
Summary: Mute!Ron and Translator!Harry are back. Something disturbing is going on in the magic free zone where Harry and Ron work. Once again the bond between the trio is tested to its limit. Rated M for graphic violence. COMPLETE
1. Intro

**Louder Than Words**

**(Part of the Lost For Words Universe)**

Do we really need a disclaimer? It's blatantly obvious that I'm not JK Rowling...although some have accused me of channelling her.

_**For shocolate's birthday - I give her Mute!Ron because she loves him so.**_

**Chapter One - A Best Friend's Best Friend**

Harry stepped into the living room and smiled at Ron.

The redhead was slouching in his armchair, his shoes kicked off haphazardly across the floor. He held a book in his hand, a gift from his friend Jess. That had tickled Ron no end; a blind girl giving him, a mute, a book to read to her. Well in truth she had known what the book was about, having had it read to her by her boyfriend Neville, but she liked to have conversations with Ron and had decided that talking about this book would be interesting. Somehow Jess and Ron had found a way of communicating without having Harry, Hermione or Neville around to translate Ron's sign language for Jess.

Harry was still grinning at Ron like an idiot. Ron frowned and looked over his shoulder before looking back at him and waving.

"What ya doing?" Harry beamed.

Ron sat up and gave Harry a suspicious look before holding up his book and raising his eyebrows.

"Good is it?" Harry said, practically bouncing with joy now.

Ron rubbed his hands together and pulled a face to say 'wonderful' in the most sarcastic way possible.

"Good." Harry said, his face getting cramp from all the insane smiling.

Ron furrowed his brow but his suspicious smile remained. He pointed at Harry and than gave a thumbs up.

"I'm fine," said Harry with wide eyes, he couldn't remember blinking once since he'd walked into the room.

Ron looked utterly unconvinced and twirled his fingers in the air.

"Well," Harry said, knowing that Ron would throw something at him if he didn't get to the point soon, "what it is...is this."

Harry gave a long whistle before dropping the tone for a moment and then bringing it back up again quickly. A dog ran into the living room wagging its tail. Ron stared at it and then up at Harry. Harry was grinning again. The dog nuzzled at Ron's hand as he began scratching him behind the ear, something the dog seemed to like a great deal.

"See, I knew you'd get on, you're bonding already!" Harry pointed happily while the Golden retriever that was more orange than golden thumped its tail against the sofa and leaned into Ron's hand.

Ron pointed at Harry and made a gripping motion towards himself before curling the fingers of both hands over like paws in front of him.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "I got a dog."

Ron brought two fingers to his forehead and moved them away to point at the dog.

"His name's Marmalade," Harry answered, "'cause of the unusual colouring y'know?"

Ron nodded.

"I knew he was the one when I saw him as a puppy, a Weasley dog, and I had to get him for you."

Ron's jaw dropped. He made the gripping motion towards himself and pounded his palm against his chest with wide eyes.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, almost about to explode with pride in himself, "he's yours."

Ron looked back to the dog and waved at it with a silent chuckle.

"Tell him to sit," Harry said gleefully.

Ron cast a withering look Harry's way and jiggled his thumb and forefinger beneath his chin and rolled his eyes.

"I'm not being funny," Harry insisted, "tell him to sit down."

Ron narrowed his eyes as he examined Harry's features before turning his head to look back at the dog, wagging its tail before him. Ron bit his bottom lip and rested his right palm flat on top of the back of his left and moved them downwards. The dog sat down obediently. Ron stared at it in disbelief before looking back at Harry and splaying both hands before him, fingers pointing upwards.

"Well Neville was going to the Magical Friends Institute, M.F.I. it's called and it's really funny because there's a Muggle store called MFI as well and it turns out to just be a front for the dog training faci..." Harry tailed of when he saw Ron looking at his watch, "Well anyway Mr Sarky!" Ron chuckled silently and Harry continued, "Neville was getting one trained up for Jess. A guide dog for the magical blind, so it can handle portkeys and stuff like that."

Ron nodded.

"Jess had a Golden one called Honey, Marmalade's sister, and while Neville was choosing her I was looking around and I saw they had dogs for deaf witches and wizards too, so they can tell them when somebody's at the door and alert them when alarms are going off and things. Well I asked if it was possible for them to train up one of the puppies to learn sign language to work with a mute and they said they'd have a go and they did it."

Ron was still looking quite shocked that his new dog could understand him and he shook his head and pointed at himself, crossed his arms over each other and then moved them apart sharply, before making a fist and pointing his index finger upwards at the side of his head.

Harry sat on the arm of Ron's chair and slapped his best friend on the back.

"This is your dog Ron. This is your dog, Marmalade, and he understands what you tell him to do."

Ron tickled Marmalade under the chin and the dog closed his eyes and seemed to thoroughly enjoy his first meeting with his new master. Ron looked back at Harry before tapping at his scarred throat and shaking his head sadly and pointing at the dog.

"You don't need to be able to call him," Harry said, "he's been taught his name as I would say it, as you would sign the letter 'M' or as a whistle. That whistle I did before, that's his. He comes to that and that only."

Ron looked suddenly excited and demanded Harry teach him the whistle, the long whistle before a short dip and rise in tone at the end. Marmalade jumped to his feet and wagged his tail enthusiastically. Ron pointed away from himself and then held up his forearm and waggled his fingers as if his arm was a palm tree.

Marmalade spun around in a circle and barked once.

"If you're taking him for a walk do you want to drop by Neville and Jess' place? I'm sure Jess is eager to go out with Honey already."

Ron nodded and got up out of his chair to pull his trainers back on his feet. The gangly figure hopped up and down on one leg and looked back at Harry before pausing and touching his fingertips to his chin and moving them away in Harry's direction.

"You're welcome mate."

Harry had never been so pleased with himself in all his life.

* * *

Neville tripped over his feet as he rushed for the front door, there had been a pounding knock and he guessed that either a natural disaster had taken place or Ron had come right over to see Jess with his dog. It was Ron.

"Hello mate, hiya Marmalade," Neville said, and signed to the cheerful dog that was wagging its tail so enthusiastically that its backside was waving back and forth too.

Ron was beaming at him before leaning to look past Neville and down the hall. He opened his hands, face up, and moved them in small circles before drawing a letter 'J' from the tip of his middle finger and around to the tip of his thumb.

"She's just practicing with Honey." Neville responded to Ron's enquiry regarding Jess' whereabouts, "There's a harness she has to wear and Jess is used to her stick or her...well...me, to find her way around!"

Ron's shoulders moved in his ever-familiar silent laugh. His fingers ruffled the orange fur at the back of Marmalade's head.

"Neville," Jess called out as something went bang and crash and Neville cringed, "oops, I think I just broke that vase of your Grandmother's again."

"Don't worry Jess," Neville called over his shoulder with a roll of the eyes in Ron's direction, "that's what _Reparo_'s for."

"Is that Ron, I can't hear anybody?" Jess called again before finally making herself visible, backing out of the living room and dragging her dog with her.

"Y'know love you're supposed to let Honey lead _you_?"

Ron made a sound like air escaping a balloon before covering his mouth and then signing for Neville to translate for him. Ron gestured over his shoulder and then walked his index and middle fingers across his open palm before pointing at Jess and Honey and bringing the tips of his fingers together.

"He says, I'm going for a walk do you two wanna come, he's referring to you and Honey when he says that. I'm not invited."

Ron gave a tut and narrowed his eyes at Neville while Jess laughed. The silent redhead pointed at Neville and then towards himself with both hands.

"Nah, you're alright Ron," Neville chuckled at the invitation to join them, "I have a vase and several family heirlooms to repair."

"I said I'm sorry!" Jess huffed as she and her Golden retriever set off down the hall to greet its brother with a friendly wag of the tail, leading Jess as she clung on to the harness and managed not to bump into anything, "Hello Ron, want to walk the dogs?"

Ron knocked once on the open front door. Jess squealed and Neville rolled his eyes.

"She never makes that noise for me," the brown haired wizard sighed with a smile twisting the corner of his mouth.

Jess punched Neville on the arm before gripping the doorframe and stepping out onto the street carefully. Ron was watching her and ready to grab hold if she lost her footing but she was standing beside him and ready to test drive Honey before they knew it.

"What side are you going to walk on Ron?" she asked and Ron tapped her left hand with his finger.

Jess giggled and held onto Ron's wrist as she dropped into a squat and reached out for Marmalade. She ruffled the dog's fur and buried her face into it to take a big deep sniff. Marmalade licked Jess' cheek and Ron clicked his fingers. Both Jess and Marmalade looked up in his direction.

Neville watched as Ron pointed at Jess and then signed her name to Marmalade. The dog barked once and Jess nearly fell over onto her bottom with fright. Ron lunged forward to steady her and help her back to her feet.

"It's alright Jess, Ron was just introducing you to Marmalade," Neville said while Ron signed an apology to Jess for making her jump.

"Oh good," Jess said merrily, "have you said hello to Honey yet?"

Ron crouched down before Jess' Golden dog and tickled it under the chin. Honey wagged her tail and Ron cleared his throat and looked to Neville. Neville understood Ron's hesitation, Honey hadn't been taught sign language and would have to learn from her brother that Ron couldn't communicate the same way Jess did.

"Honey?" Neville said clearly to get the dog's attention, which he did right away, "This is Ron. Ron." He repeated the name slowly and clearly while pointing at Ron. Ron waved at Honey.

The dog raised its paw and tried to mirror Ron's movement. This took Neville and Ron by surprise and Ron instinctively grabbed the paw out of the air and shook it.

"Are they getting along?" Jess asked hopefully.

"Well they're shaking hands," Neville grinned.

Soon enough the two friends with their two dogs were making their way to the park together, Jess yammering all the way and Ron occasionally clicking his fingers either once or twice for yes or no responses.

Neville closed his front door. He didn't care that Jess used to have a thing for Ron, those two couldn't be kept apart for anything in the world, and besides that - Ron and Hermione were getting even more intense after all the drama the led up to Ron finally losing those brain scars on his arms. Once you had seen somebody you love suffering so much, targeted by evil wizards left behind after Voldemort's death as he and Hermione knew had happened to Jess and Ron, you tend to not be bothered by feelings beeing felt as openly and intensely as possible.

There was so much Ron had done for Neville on a personal level as well. Well they both owed each other a lot. Neville had healed Ron's brain trauma and Ron had taught Neville's parents to communicate with sign language after they had some of their senses returned to them. For all the horrors of the Ravenclaw episode, it had brought everybody so much closer. Even the prodigal Percy had been welcomed back into the Weasley fold after all that he'd done for Ron.

Everybody was stronger than ever now, they could face anything as long as they were all together.

* * *

"Sir?"

"I'm still here Benjamin."

"Are they inferi sir?" the junior Auror asked as she backed off from the approaching group of semi-naked, milky-eyed bodies walking towards them.

"No Auror Benjamin," Molloy said, sending out sparks to try and deter the animalistic group of human beings, "they are very much not Inferi. Inferi die and are reanimated. These...things never got the chance to die. They aren't alive though, well only in that they are physically walking around."

"Only physically alive sir?" Benjamin said, her stomach falling suddenly and her blood running cold as one of the twitching snarling figures to her left lunged forward into the light and recoiled only slightly to the jet of steam she sent into his face.

"They can be stopped but it's not as easy as that. We need to get a squad up here. We need reinforcements."

"Shall I disapparate sir?" Benjamin asked, eager to get out of there but incredibly reluctant to leave her mentor alone with the wild, inhuman beings that had them cornered in the cave.

"It's not possible," the older man said wearily, pulling Benjamin behind him a little, trying to shield her from the attack that was due at any moment, "We're right on the magical and non-magical border, it's a miracle we can use out wands at all."

"Non-magical border sir?" Benjamin frowned, never having heard of such a thing.

They both flinched as a powerful looking male body shoved his way through the crowd and seemed to sniff the air like an animal. His face was twisted and his lips curled like a rabid dog's. They were all like a pack of wild animals. They were diseased, dying, but whatever was killing them was also charging them with the need to kill others as brutally as possible.

In their investigation it looked to be nothing more than a werewolf attack in the Lake District but they just found more and more brutal mutilations. There were more people who had been attacked suddenly turning into attackers before having to be killed to stop them hurting their families. Even they themselves had had a loss, Benjamin's partner Lloyd had been savaged and quickly lost his mind.

Lloyd had tried to tear out Benjamin's throat and Molloy had chained him up and attempted to send him home via portkey but he was having trouble getting his wand to work.

"I knew we were close but I didn't realise how close," Molloy said gruffly, watching the wild looking figure who was clearly the leader of the 'pack' as he moved towards them menacingly, "There's a magical free zone, wards that stop wands working, no Apparition, owls can't even fly in the airspace."

"Why would anyone do that sir?" Benjamin squeaked as a pair of the feral inferi-type attackers began tussling to get ahead of each other and encroach upon them with the pack leader.

"That doesn't matter now Benjamin," Molloy said as he tried to fully shield her with his body, "Don't let them touch you, bite you, scratch you...get away and keep away. Keep people out."

"S-Sir?"

"I'll send a spell into you with what magic I can get to work and then I'll hold them off so you can try to Disapparate."

"But what about?" Benjamin gestured to a snarling salivating Lloyd, chained up on the floor.

"He's gone Benjamin, he's just like the rest of them," Molloy said stiffly, "they're diseased and they have to be contained. You've got to get back to HQ and warn them. We have to keep the infection from spreading. Do _not_ let them come barging in with wands blazing, they'll simply retreat into the non-magical zone and then they'll find the clinic and infect all the patients and staff. You have to get out and warn them Benjamin."

"But what about you sir?" The young Auror said with a whimper.

"Just tell them what I said Benjamin. _Corroboro_ _viator!_"

A weak spell hit Auror Benjamin in the chest and Lloyd ran at the snarling pack of infected people. She closed her eyes and turned on the spot, screaming at the sounds of tearing flesh and crunching bones. There was compression around her ribs and she felt herself moving slightly.

The violent sounds of savagery didn't fade and Benjamin staggered on the spot and opened her eyes just in time to see her mentor's jugular gushing blood. She tried to run but fell forward onto the ground, her left leg splinched off completely.

Auror Molloy wasn't yelling anymore, there was just a gurgling sound and the rusty smell of fresh blood. A wild-eyed Inferi-type held her down and growled as thick dark blood, almost black in colour, oozed from its mouth and hit Benjamin on her cheek. She thrashed to try and throw the diseased human being off her but soon there were more and she felt her skin tearing and her scream ripping away from her along with the rest of her throat.

They weren't going to be stopped.

* * *

_A/N Yes indeed. This is going to be graphic in places. It is also going to be sweet (Well it's Mute!Ron isn't it? And now he has a DOG!)_

_So before you all ask:_

_This is very loosely based on the British film '28 Days Later'. It will be as much a Potter version of that film as Lost in Parasomnia was a version of 'Donnie Darko' (in that it's absolutely not at all but I feel the need to credit the films that inspire me to come up with a rough theme to a fic)_

_This is, as the previous two Mute!Ron fics have been, a fic centred on Harry and Ron's friendship and bond. _

_Hermione will be involved and much of the story will be told with her PoV but this is not Hermione-centred so please don't hassle me if I write three chapters in a row without her in them...she will be there when she needs to be there._

_You do not have to have read Lost For Words or Words Fail Me to understand this fic. If you want a back story it is recommended you do read those fics however as I will not have time to reply to reviews just asking for past storylines to be filled in._

_As ever with this series, I'm writing a mute character and having to write a lot of descriptive British sign language. Feedback on this is very much appreciated. Always let me know if the sign language is slowing the pace, you want more or you want less of it...basically, tell me if it's becoming a hindrance to the story. Because of your feedback last time I was confident enough to go with it completely but it's been a while since I've done it in a long fic so I'm worried about going over the top._

_Thanks to all who review, you are all very rare but very good people and I'm lucky to have you!_

_And... HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOCOLATE!_


	2. Just Another Day

**Just Another Day**

Ron was practically bouncing as Nurse Stour told him and Harry the good news.

"It's really been incredible progress and it's all thanks to the both of you." The magic-free healer said as they followed her down the corridor to the day room, "First Jess, then Joseph and now this."

Harry almost had to hold Ron back by the elbow. The last thing the magic sapper needed was Ron flinging himself at him as soon as he laid eyes upon him.

"Calm down Ron," Harry smiled while Stour chuckled to herself.

Ron rolled his eyes and shrugged off Harry's calming touch. He rubbed his hands together and pointed from his eyes away from him.

"I can't wait to see him." Harry translated.

"Yes well do try to contain yourself Ron, remember that you are a member of our team here...a professional, a respected member of staff?" Stour kept clutching at straws while Ron nodded and tried to look over her shoulder and through the door to the day room.

"That walrus is having crazy sex huh Ron?" Harry smirked.

Ron waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder at Harry and turned back to face Stour. He pointed at himself and then through the doorway.

"In a moment Ron," Stour said, adopting a serious expression, "but I need to know you understand what I've said. This is a very big step for our sapper and I don't want your excitement to overcome the breakthrough, do you understand?"

Ron blinked and nodded, pointing both hands on either side of his head and behind him.

"I understand." Harry translated.

Ron's eyes widened, his face had become even more expressive since his speech had been taken away, and he moved one hand forward until his palm hit the back of the other hand, just ahead of it. Then he twirled his finger skywards at the side of his head, made a pinching motion away from his throat, and let his splayed hands hover around at either side of his head while his shoulders slumped a little.

"All this time wondering, wishing, worrying..." Harry spoke Ron's signs aloud for Stour, who was improving but not at the level Harry and Ron could now communicate on, and he was suddenly struck by how differently Ron would sign when trying to convey his sincerity about something.

The sides of Ron's hands struck each other twice in an 'X' shape before splaying his fingers on both hands and tapping his fingertips together and gesturing back into the day room. Ron made a clutching gesture as if brandishing his wand and twirling it upwards to the ceiling.

"Working with the team for his recovery..."

Ron tilted his head at an angle and threw Stour the puppy dog eyes as he made a scratching motion with his fingertips up and down his body. Harry couldn't help but laugh as he translated.

"I'm excited."

Stour smiled broadly and rubbed up and down Ron's arm before stepping aside to let him pass through the door into the day room.

"I know you are Ron, we all are, but if we make a big deal out of this progress it might put a stop to it altogether. Acknowledge it but don't go overboard. Treat this as a normal session alright?"

Ron nodded and turned back to see that Harry was ready to follow him inside.

"Go for it miracle worker," Harry smirked.

He didn't know what gave him more pride, seeing Ron excel at his perfect career or being at his side day in and day out to witness it. A reporter had recently cornered Harry, grovelling for an interview about what the 'saviour' of the world did now there were no opportunities for heroics. He had been asked if he was going into retirement at the tender age of twenty-two. Harry had replied that he had been working full time ever since he was discharged from St Mungo's.

He was Ron Weasley's official translator.

The reporter had smiled condescendingly and scribbled something on her pad about 'Charity work' but Harry had refused to answer any further questions until she had changed her note into something more along the lines of, 'Now works for the non-magical treatment facility in Cumbria under gifted therapist Ronald Weasley'. Ron had laughed when he got the paper that day. Soon Fred and George had teased him so much about it that embarrassment took over and he had taken to cringing whenever people spoke of him professionally.

Alistair Baker, a very important man in the Ministry whom many believed to be the next Minister of Magic, had made quite a show of introducing Ron to other ministers at a big function several months ago. It was all spin, Harry knew, and the man was making a scene of his paying more attention to Ron than Harry. It was almost as if he was sending out a message to the voters that he wasn't a sycophant who would attach himself to Harry Potter's famous name to win the public's affection.

Ron had quite enjoyed showing the idiot up that night. Baker had dragged him over to meet his 'Disabled' Minister to highlight how progressive he was. Ron then spent a full hour having a conversation with Percy's deaf boss in sign language about what a prat the Minister was while Percy and Harry tied themselves in knots trying to translate the whole dialogue in a way that wasn't going to be a public relations nightmare on tomorrow's front page.

That was one thing Harry couldn't abide. He hated it when Ron was described as having a disability. He didn't. If anything he had an extra ability. He could speak sign language, he could communicate without words, and he could communicate better than a dozen people shouting could ever hope to do so. His damaged vocal chords didn't restrict Ron at all; he was liberated.

True, the times Harry's chest hurt when Ron was laughing so hard his eyes watered but there wasn't a single sound were unbearable and he wished that things were different. But he never wished that Ron were different, not once. Ron was so much more vocal now, open and articulate. He expressed his emotions in ways he never had before. Ron would sign things that he would never previously have said.

There was also something stunningly moving about seeing him tell Hermione he loved her with his hands rather than three lazy little words. Love isn't a spoken thing after all. Love is an emotion and Ron was the most emotive human being on the planet.

And Merlin could he argue?

Harry was trailing after Ron as he waved to the magic sapper, a patient so dangerous in the magical world he was to spend the rest of his life in the magic free zone that surrounded the clinic, and nodded a couple of hellos of his own to familiar patients.

The Sapper got up out of his chair and shook Ron's hand with a huge grin on his face. Ron was beaming back and they both sat down.

"Morning Harry," the Sapper said as Harry pulled up a chair beside Ron and sat down ready to translate.

"Good morning."

Both Harry and the Sapper looked to Ron and waited for him to say something. Ron arched an eyebrow and sat back in his chair, folding his arms.

"What?" the sapper said, his smile fading as he sat forward.

Ron shrugged and pointed at the sapper before pointing at his own eye and then prodding himself in the chest and rolling his eyes skywards.

"You wanted to see _me_!" Harry translated with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah," the sapper said, relaxing again and taking a deep breath before holding up his own hands before him.

The Sapper linked his two little fingers, pointed at his left thumb with his right index finger, and then hit three fingers against his open palm. He looked very nervous but also proud of himself. Ron stared at him and blinked. Then Ron waved his hand and linked his own little fingers.

"Hi Sam." Harry said aloud, almost forgetting to translate at all.

It had been one of the first ever questions Ron had asked the Sapper on meeting him. It had been a question he had always refused to answer...up until now.

"It's nothing special," Sam shrugged, lowering his eyes to the ground uncomfortably, "bit of a disappointment to you both I'm sure. Bet you thought it'd be a really interesting name didn't ya?"

Ron sat forward in his chair and began to fingerspell something to Sam, the Sapper, and soon Harry was fighting to hold in a burst of uncontrollable laughter. Ron was spelling much slower than usual so Sam could follow, he'd only recently learned the British Sign Language alphabet, but his eyes were sparkling as he realised what Ron was spelling to him.

"I do _not_ look like an Algenon!"

Ron grinned and Harry snorted.

* * *

Ginny frowned at Hermione.

The bushy-haired witch was sitting on Ron and Harry's sofa, her elbows digging into her knees and her chin nestled in the palm of her hands, with an odd expression on her face as she stared at the Orange Retriever sitting before her.

Marmalade was panting happily and wagging his tail. Ginny thought he was a lovely dog. She had been the only person other than Neville Harry had confided in when he had paid for the little Weasley pup to be trained especially for Ron.

Ron was going to ask his boss if it would be acceptable for his dog to come to work with him in future. He'd even gone to the trouble of opening a series of books to find examples of dogs visiting the elderly and terminally ill for therapeutic companionship to back up his request. Of course everybody knew that Ron just didn't like the idea of Marmalade being at home all day and that he was so fond of his special pet that he wanted him around at all times but it was more than that. He really did think that certain patients would really benefit from a visit that wasn't from a nurse or a Healer or even their favourite mute therapist.

Hermione had helped him with the research, always enthusiastic to see Ron in the presence of an open book without an expression of extreme boredom on his face, but still seemed to have 'Marmalade issues'.

"Are you trying to hypnotise the poor animal Hermione?" Ginny asked brightly.

Hermione cast a withering glance towards Ginny before sighing and looking back at the dog.

"I don't think he likes me." She pouted.

"Well you haven't once stroked him or played with him since you got here!" Ginny scoffed, "You've just been glaring at him. Dog's pick up on that kind of thing y'know?"

"No, it's not that," Hermione said, thoughtfully, "I think it knows I'm a cat person."

Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Y'mean that tail you grew in second year never really went away?"

Hermione flung herself back in her seat and threw her arms into the air.

"You're worse than your brother sometimes, do you know that?"

"Which one?" Ginny grinned, pleased that Hermione was finally acting a little more Hermione-ish.

"All of them, but the difficult one in particular."

"The git?"

"Yes, him!" Hermione snorted.

"What's he done now?" Ginny sighed, not even attempting to hide her amused expression as she patted her lap and Marmalade trotted over to her and snuffled into her hands before resting his head on her knee while she tickled him behind the ear.

"He...well...it's..." Hermione kept beginning her explanation before wincing at what she was about to say and stopping herself before she could begin.

"Spit it out!" Ginny tutted while marmalade wagged his tail against the side of the armchair, making a dull base drum sound.

"He's replaced me with that bloody dog!" she blurted and cast an accusing finger at Marmalade.

Ginny almost fell out of the armchair laughing. Marmalade barked and slobbered into her face.

"I knew you'd be like this," Hermione huffed and folded her arms, grumpily.

"You're...but...Hermione you have no idea of the image you just planted in my head!" Ginny cried tears of laughter while draping an arm loosely around an excitable Marmalade as he licked her cheek.

In Ginny's warped-Weasley mind she had seen Ron slow-dancing with Marmalade, who balanced quite deftly on his hind legs, while the dog wore Hermione's best dress robes.

"It growled at me when I kissed him goodbye this morning!" Hermione declared, seemingly outraged that she wasn't being taken seriously.

"Yeah? Well Hedwig smacked me around the back of the head for distracting Harry while he was feeding her. Pets love their masters, that's all it is."

"Well Pigwigeon has never shoved his way between Ron and I when we were cuddling before." Hermione said, lifting her chin and looking down her nose at Marmalade.

"Oh this is ridiculous," Ginny said, rolling her eyes, "I knew you were the jealous type but I never though you'd lose it over a dog Hermione."

"I am _not_ the jealous type!" Hermione protested, lividly, "When I woke up this morning the dog was laying between us. That's not normal Ginny and you can't tell me it is."

Ginny lifted both her eyebrows and visually scolded Hermione for a moment before her friend shifted her shoulders as if to dare Ginny to come up with something to counter her argument.

"Okay," Ginny began, her tone nothing but reasonable, "I seem to recall Ron complaining about waking up with Crookshanks on his face one morning and when he flinched in shock your cat proceeded to dig his claws into Ron's face and attempt to remove it."

"That was affectionate!" Hermione said, appalled at the very idea that her beloved cat was anything but adorable.

"He nearly lost an eye!"

"He had a tiny nick on the cheekbone," Hermione said, her eyebrows crinkling and her lips thinning with annoyance, "and Crookshanks loves Ron. Why else do you think he was sleeping curled up on his face?"

"To suffocate him?" Ginny snorted, loving the wind-up Hermione game and realising why Ron did it so much.

"Well this has obviously degenerated into a cats versus dogs argument and that wasn't the point at all." Hermione huffed.

Marmalade thumped down onto the floor at Ginny's feet and rolled on his back, exposing the light ginger downy fur on his belly. As Ginny reached down and began to scratch Marmalade's chest while his legs waggled in the air happily Hermione got up from her seat and stepped over the pair of them.

"Are you scared of dogs Hermione?" Ginny suddenly said with a frown.

"Not at all, I loved Sirius!" Hermione spun around as she got to the doorway.

"Sirius was a man."

"Well...I loved Fang then."

Ginny threw a look of great cynicism Hermione's way.

"You _loved_ Fang?"

"I tolerated him!" Hermione said, almost stamping her foot with pent-up anger.

Marmalade flipped back over and sprung to his feet to bark and wag his tail.

"Oh Hermione, how can you not love Marmalade?" Ginny said, her bottom lip jutting out as she ruffled the fur between his floppy ears affectionately.

"I didn't say...I don't dislike...You're twisting my wo-" Hermione stammered until the front door opened and Marmalade charged at her and almost took her legs out from under her as he bounded past to greet Ron.

Ginny leapt up and grabbed Hermione to steady her before looking down the hallway at her brother wrestling around on the floor with his dog. Harry shook his head and laughed before stepping over the pair of them and marching right over to Ginny.

"Had a really good day today," he grinned before grabbing her tightly and pressing his lips to hers.

"Mmmmm?" Ginny responded until Harry broke the kiss and gave her a warm hug, "Good for you two."

"Have you eaten?" Harry asked her, green eyes twinkling brightly.

"No I was waiting for you," she said with a shrug before giggling at another quick kiss on the lips.

"Well good," Harry said, lifting Ginny off her feet and spinning her around, "'cause I'm taking you out."

"What's this in aid of?" Ginny squealed as Harry threw her over his shoulder and set off for the front door proudly.

"This is for Algenon!" Harry roared, clenched fist thrusting upwards into the air.

Ginny noticed her brother falling backwards into the wall in fits of silent laughter, Marmalade licking his ear enthusiastically.

"Have you two been drinking?" Hermione was asking sternly.

Ginny saw Ron looking offended and walking unsteady fingers across his palm before shaking his head.

"Well if you're not drunk what _is_ the matter with you?" Hermione put her hands on her hips and Harry turned around to close the front door behind him.

"We've had a really good day Hermione," Harry said musically, "give the bloke a break and let him enjoy it."

Ginny angled her head to see Ron getting to his feet, Marmalade jumping up at him happily, while Hermione leaned over nervously to give Ron a peck on the cheek. Just as she was about to call out some encouragement to her friend Harry slapped Ginny on the arse.

"Where do you want to go and eat my fine young wench?"

"_What_ did you just call me?" Ginny gasped before paddling Harry's backside with her own slaps as the door slammed shut.


	3. Between You and Me

**Between You and Me**

Hermione still had an hour before her shift at St Mungos started. The sun had just risen and the bed was toasty and warm.

That wasn't the only reason she was reluctant to get out from under the covers though.

Her face was nuzzled up against Ron's bare chest and her head rested in the crook of his shoulder. She could feel one of his hands on her back and his nose was buried in her mass of bushy brown hair. Her fingers were splayed as her hand rested upon Ron's ribcage, occasionally she'd draw small swirling patterns from one freckle to another, and she watched his chest rise and fall smoothly.

She glanced down at the foot of the bed and frowned at the orange furred dog that lay sleeping across Ron's legs. She had been brought up to think that a dog on furniture wasn't done so a dog on the bed was definitely out of order. The thing was she had lapsed into letting Crookshanks sleep beside her all through school and right up until Ron had rolled over and almost crushed him in his sleep. Since then Crookshanks had been left at home whenever she came to stay at Ron's place.

She stayed at Ron's place a lot these days.

She sometimes wished it could be just the two of them. In an ideal world they would have got a place together once they were settled into steady jobs. The final confrontation with Voldemort put paid to that though. First Ron was recovering and having to learn to communicate in a whole new way. Then they had to coax Harry out of his guilt complex and re-introduce him to normal life again. No sooner than Ron and Harry were ready to go back out and face the big wide world they were both in the thick of trouble again.

Hermione shuddered and snuggled into Ron's side, clutching his body to her and feeling him sleepily cuddle her back.

Ron had been hurt, his physical health deteriorated while his mind was unable to cope at times, and then he was taken from her by what Death Eaters remained after the war. She had almost lost him. She knew just how lucky she was and had vowed never to let him go again. No one and nothing would ever keep them apart.

Ron shifted in his sleep and rolled over onto his side. Marmalade woke up and shuffled off Ron's feet. The dog looked at his master to see if he was getting up before setting his head down again and closing his eyes once more. Hermione really wasn't a dog person, Ginny was right about that, but she couldn't deny that Harry's gift was a thoughtful one. She also couldn't deny that Marmalade was loyal and attentive to Ron at all times. She'd like the animal a lot more if it didn't shove itself between them when she and Ron were snuggling on the sofa late at night.

She had tried to shut Marmalade out of the bedroom when she and Ron had staggered into it the previous night, snogging all the way over to the bed and falling onto it, but Marmalade could open doors and was soon jumping on the pair of them. She'd felt self-conscious about having sex in front of the dog and didn't like the expression on its face when she attempted to keep kissing Ron as they wriggled underneath the covers.

She looked back down at the snoozing dog and then back at Ron's peaceful face before lifting her lips to brush against the long horizontal scar across his throat and trailing gentle kisses all the way around to the side of his neck. Ron's lips pulled into a smile and he turned his head to rub his nose against hers.

"Morning Sunshine!" Hermione said softly.

Ron's eyes cracked open the slightest fraction and he pressed his lips into hers and kissed her.

"I have to get up." She said reluctantly.

Ron's arms curled around her body and clung on to her tightly. She sighed and entwined her legs with his. She loved how clingy he was first thing in the morning. Ron pulled his wounded puppy face and put his fingernails together and then flung them apart while shaking his head.

"I have to." Hermione whimpered, rolling on top of Ron and lowering her head to share a lingering kiss before pulling at his pouting bottom lip and stroking the side of his face with her hand, "I have to go to work."

Ron shook his head and smiled lazily as he lifted his head and began to nibble just below her earlobe. Hermione made a small squeaking sound and closed her eyes.

"And you...you have work too...Oh that's good!"

Ron smiled against her skin and she forced herself to sit up, still straddling him beneath her, and watched as he licked his lips and signed something to her.

Ron put his hand to his head and moved it away before pointing at Hermione and waggling his eyebrows.

"You did?" Hermione smiled, dragging her fingers across Ron's skin beneath her playfully, "What was I doing in this dream?"

Ron held up both hands with his index and middle fingers clawed and facing each other. He moved them up and down alternately.

"I was arguing with you?" She said, unable to hide her disappointment, "Oh great!"

Ron broke into a wide grin before making the sign again and then touching his index fingers and thumbs and pinching at his shoulders and moving them down his body. He waggled his eyebrows mischievously.

"Arguing naked?" Hermione giggled, "Well that's more like it."

Ron sat himself up in bed and put a hand behind her neck to pull her into a deep kiss. As Hermione leaned back into her boyfriend she told herself that she could wait ten more minutes before she had to get up and get ready. She sighed audibly into Ron's mouth and suddenly something struck her beneath the chin and Ron laughed into her mouth and broke away.

The bloody dog was up and between them again. Ron ruffled its fur and Marmalade licked his face and slapped Hermione repeatedly around the back of the head with his wagging tail. She huffed and clambered out of the bed. Ron playfully shoved Marmalade over and scratched at his belly while watching Hermione opening the dresser draw where she kept her spare underwear.

He cleared his throat to get her to look round but she pretended she hadn't heard him. Ron made a clicking sound with his tongue against his teeth and she glanced over her shoulder to see him frowning at her before she looked back and hopped up and down on one leg to pull on her knickers.

"I've really got to go to work Ronald. Maybe we can go out tonight, just the two of us?"

She spun around and stole a kiss from Ron's wordless lips before he realised she was about to make a dash for the door and Hermione grabbed her clothes up from the floor and hurried for the bathroom.

It was a mean trick but it was sometimes called for. If she didn't keep eye contact with Ron she couldn't get drawn into a conversation with him. She closed and locked the bathroom door to make herself presentable and finish dressing and knew that it was the height of rudeness as far as Ron was concerned to either turn your back, cover your eyes or close a door on him when he wanted to talk to you.

She hoped he was shrugging her departure off and going back to bed for another half hour rather than standing outside the bathroom door with his arms folded and an annoyed expression on his face.

When she left the bathroom she found neither scenario to be true.

Ron had left a note for her informing her that he'd taken Marmalade out for his morning walk and to have a nice day at the hospital.

"Fantastic," Hermione muttered, her shoulders slumping, "he's not even bothered enough to sulk over me any more."

* * *

"Wands please gents." The security wizard on the border of the non-magical zone said lazily.

Harry and Ron handed over their wands and signed the visitors' book while the bored sounding man went on with his routine.

"Here are your receipts to reclaim your wands on leaving the non-magical zone, please don't lose them. While in the non-magical zone you will find no owls, Floo connected fireplaces, portkeys or Apparition will be possible."

Ron glanced at Harry and raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. Harry tried not to laugh out loud. The man's drone went on.

"Are either of you taking any potions of any kind?"

Ron and Harry shook their heads, still fighting the urge to laugh.

"Do either of you posses any magical artefacts such as pocket Sneak-o-scopes, remembralls, enchanted stationery..."

"We've got nothing enchanted at all." Harry interrupted, "We know better than that don't we?"

Ron rolled his eyes and turned away to let go of a silent burst of laughter.

"I mean we have worked here for over a year now Joe." Harry struggled to sound sincere and not patronising but it was incredibly hard work.

"Then you should know that I have to do this every bleedin' time then shouldn't you?" Joe grunted angrily.

Ron put his hand to his face and Harry punched him in the arm. Ron straightened his face and turned around to face the security wizard once again.

"Neither of you have any magical prosthetics at all?" Joe asked wearily.

Both Harry and Ron shook their heads and fixed their expressions into masks of complete seriousness.

"Arms please?" Jo sighed, shoulders falling.

Ron's amusement really did fade on hearing this and his ears pinked up while his eyes narrowed.

"That check is about nine months out of date Joe." Harry said fiercely.

Joe held his checklist before Harry's face and jabbed his finger at the spot on the board that requested that Ron's arms be checked for any _'inflammation'_.

"While it's on my list I will check for it now arms please Mr Weasley."

Ron's ears were burning scarlet as he rolled up his sleeves and held out his arms for Joe to fleetingly glance over before checking the box on his form and waving for Ron to shake his sleeves down again.

Ron hadn't had scars on his arms for months. No other security wizard bothered hassling him about it but Joe was nothing more than a jobs worth and wielding his minute authority was all he had left. He certainly didn't have any job satisfaction.

"I see you have a dog with you today." Joe said as he pointed his chewed Biro idly at Marmalade.

Ron looked down at his feet and jumped theatrically as if he didn't know the dog was there at all. Harry clamped his hand to his mouth to stifle the laugh that escaped him and Joe rolled his eyes skywards.

"I received a memo about that. Dog for the disabled, non-magical, no checks required. Go through please."

Ron had blinked and stared at Joe as if convinced he though he had misheard. Harry wasn't quite so restrained.

"What did you just say?"

Ron tugged at Harry's sleeve and shook his head as if he couldn't be bothered to do this for the umpteenth time in his young life but Harry wasn't going to stand for it and stepped up to the security wizard.

"You can go through Mr Potter." Joe said rigidly.

"You know what I'm talking about." Harry growled into Joe's face, "Apologise to him."

Ron was pulling at Harry's arm now and Harry tore it away from his best friend's long fingers and jabbed Joe in the chest angrily.

"Don't start with me, I'm not one of your fawning fans y'know?" Joe said, puffing out his chest and bumping it against Harry's.

"Who the hell are you to call him names? Look at what you do for a living and tell me again why you're so much better than he is." Harry wished he still had his wand so he could bat bogey the bastard right there and then.

Ron was shoving the two of them apart now and had both hands on Harry's chest, pushing him away from Joe and the border checkpoint. Harry dropped his shoulder to shake Ron off and looked him in the eyes furiously.

"Are you gonna let him get away with that?" He demanded of Ron.

Ron made a fist with the thumb and little finger extended and moved it downwards while pulling that sarcastic face of his.

"And why _indeed?_" Harry huffed into Ron's face.

Ron made to snatch something invisible away from his face and throw it over his shoulder.

"No I bloody won't forget it!" Harry declared, more livid than ever, "You're not disabled, you're more able than he is." Harry gestured wildly at Joe before shouting over Ron's shoulder, "A monkey could do your job, d'you know that?"

Ron made a huffing sound and shoved Harry further away from the checkpoint, manhandling him into walking across the countryside towards the rehabilitation clinic. Again Harry wriggled out of his grip. He glared at Ron, almost ashamed at his friend for not defending himself to the ignorant security wizard.

Just as Harry was about to open his mouth again Ron stroked the underside of his chin with the back of his hand. Harry held his tongue, with much effort. Ron crossed his arms over one another and drew them apart sharply before pointing his index finger into his opposite palm and shaking his head adamantly.

"Of course it's important Ron. Fighting ignorance is just as important as fighting evil y'know?" Harry's temper was dying down as he saw how resigned Ron was to the wizard's attitude.

It was just as Ron had said to him. He'd had enough.

"You don't think it's worth arguing with those people anymore? You want to let them get away with it?" Harry said despondently.

Ron pointed at himself and crossed his arms over each other again before covering his face with his fingers splayed and patting himself on the chest.

_I'm not ashamed of myself._

Harry blinked and swallowed before he was able to respond to that statement.

"You shouldn't be."

Ron raised his eyebrows and shook his head with a small smile.

Harry glanced over Ron's shoulder at Joe, climbing back into his pokey little booth and waiting for the next visitor to cross the border either way. It would be them on their way out in all likelihood. He had a unfulfilling job and hated every second of it. He had all his faculties and no apparent barriers holding him back. He would suffer no prejudices if he went looking for another job but he still didn't bother. The only thing he had was that little bit of power over whoever wanted to enter or leave the non-magical zone.

Harry didn't feel sorry for him one little bit. Ron didn't seem to either. Ron just seemed to be above it all.

Ron put a closed hand to his chin and moved it forward, his fingers opening in the process, and pointed both hands on either side of his head behind him. Ron casually gestured to Joe and scrunched up his face while shaking his finger.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "it's his problem, not yours."

Ron smiled at Harry and then pointed past him to the clinic on top of the hill.

"C'mon then Ghandi?" Harry sneered. Slinging his arm around Ron's shoulders and walking onward with him, "Let's get to work."

Ron frowned at him and twirled his index finger in the air.

"Never mind," Harry chuckled at Ron's enquiry at who Ghandi was, "C'mon Marmalade."

Ron patted his side and the orange dog bounded happily alongside them.

Harry noticed a curious expression on Ron's face as he watched his dog gambolling beside his master.

"What's up?"

Ron's long freckled nose was scrunched up as he winced and began to sigh to Harry while still watching Marmalade intently.

Ron pointed at Harry and then signed Hermione's name before gesturing to the dog and curled his hands, knuckles together, and then pulled them apart.

"Well maybe he's losing his possessive side. Either that or he knows I'm not about to start snogging you so he doesn't mind us touching as much as he seems to mind Hermione touching you."

Ron shrugged, making a fist with his thumb and little finger over his chest and wriggling his hand.

"Definitely." Harry nodded as they carried on their way to the clinic and forgot all about the ignorant security wizard.

* * *

Hermione stirred her tea for the fiftieth time before Neville finally lost patience with her and snatched the spoon out of her hand.

"Out with it then." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Excuse me?" Hermione blinked.

Neville sat back in his plastic chair in the canteen of St Mungo's and took in the sight of his fellow Healer before speaking.

"You've been looking into that cup of tea in the same way Trelawney used to look into her crystal balls. What's up?"

Hermione sighed deeply and pushed the cold cup of tea away from herself before slumping in her seat and folding her arms.

"I've been usurped by a dog."

Neville grinned and nodded cheerfully.

"Oh is _that _all?" He chortled before tapping Hermione's teacup with his wand and warming it through again, "I have as well, it's just the way in the beginning. It's also Jess and Ron's bloody fault."

Neville pushed Hermione's tea back across the table to her and she took it back and brought it to her lips to take a sip.

"How's that?" Hermione asked, her mood lightening greatly now that she knew she wasn't imagining her doggy persecution.

"Well they're so crazy about their new dogs that they're letting them get away with murder, the kennels warned me that could happen, but then there's the added confusion of the brother and sister connection."

Hermione furrowed her brown and shrugged wordlessly. Neville continued.

"Well dogs like their packs don't they? First of all Honey and Marmalade were in a pack together, then they get Jess and Ron and they become members of the pack too."

Hermione nodded, still following Neville's logic thus far.

"So what happens on the first day Honey meets Jess and Marmalade meets Ron?"

"They decide to overthrow you and me?" Hermione joked.

"Well yes I don't doubt that for a second," Neville laughed, "but they also went out together to the park...as a pack...Honey, Marmalade, Jess and Ron."

"So they think Jess and Ron are together?" Hermione exclaimed, much louder than she had really intended.

Neville was still laughing.

"Well what are they supposed to think?" He threw his hands into the air, "Plus the fact that when Jess and Ron talk they're tactile, they touch each other."

"I know what tactile means!" Hermione huffed.

Neville held up both hands and sat as far back in his seat as possible.

"I'm just explaining to you what's going on with the dogs!"

Hermione took a calming breath and had another sip of tea before apologising to Neville and encouraging him to go on with his explanation.

"Well in order for Ron to communicate with Jess when they're alone he has to touch her, taps and spelling on her hands and stuff," Neville seemed brave enough to sit forward again as he saw that Hermione wasn't going to bite his head off again, "so they are seen by the dogs as very intimate and comfortable together. That's what Honey and Marmalade see as an acceptable physical interaction between their masters."

"So when I try to hug and kiss Ron..."

"Marmalade's thinking, '_hold on a mo, that's Honey's master's mate'_ and tries to protect him from this out-of-pack intrusion."

"So Honey isn't letting you get close with Jess then?"

"Well Honey's definitely confused but she knew me when she was a puppy and I picked her out. She knew me before she knew Jess. So I've already got a bond with her, she just doesn't understand how I fit in yet. At first, when I try to kiss Jess, she pushes between us but if we make a bit of a fuss of her and then ease back into kissing Honey just gets bored and wanders away."

Hermione's shoulders fell and she let out an annoyed 'humph'.

"So, by that logic, Ron and Harry can snog all they want!"

"Excuse me?"

Hermione and Neville looked up at the stunned looking face of the person who had just appeared at their table, his glasses almost toppling off his freckled nose and his eyebrows lost in his copper hair.

"Oh hi Percy." Neville said cheerfully, "Are you here to see my parents?"

"Yes," Percy said, clutching a bundle of paperwork from the Ministry to his chest and staring at Hermione in shock, "we're working on sentence structure today. Ron told me they're vocabulary was quite impressive now."

"Yeah," Neville rose from his seat and shook Percy's hand with a broad smile, "I can't thank you and Ron enough. The progress they've made with their communication is incredible. I never thought I'd be able to have a conversation with my mum and dad again."

Hermione felt slightly uncomfortable under Percy's gaze as he nodded and blindly patted Neville on the back.

"Well it helps that you speak sign-language too so you can chat as a family when we're not there. H-Hermione did you just say...?"

"Ron's dog doesn't like me!" Hermione blurted.

Percy blinked. Neville patted him on the arm and drew up a chair for him.

"It's a long story."

* * *

Joe could hear heavy breathing and climbed out of his booth, wand drawn.

"Magical checkpoint, you've got to check in or out to get through the border."

He could still hear the ragged breathing but he couldn't see anybody around. The light was dull and the sky was overcast, almost the colour of an old bruise, and he could see as far as the clinic atop the hill and the hazy shape of the nearest village some way away. The person was nearby but he couldn't see them at all.

"Invisibility cloaks and Disillusionment charms will not be permitted in the non-magical zone. Try it and you will bounce off the wards. Please check in or out."

There was a rustling sound now. The heavy breaths were still nearby but the rustling was farther away. There was more than one of them. The sound was coming from within the magic-free zone.

"You can not leave the magic free zone unless you hand in your ticket. I gave you a ticket when I took your wand. You can't pass through to the checkpoint without a ticket and you can't pass the wards to leave without a wand. Show yourselves and give me your ticket!"

There was still no sound other than a distant snarling sound, rustling a little closer and the heavy breathing so close he could almost smell it.

"This your idea of a joke Potter?" Joe called out, "Gonna set the dog on me are ya?"

Joe spun around on the spot, wand drawn and nerves getting the better of him.

"Come on, say something!" He roared into the trees before feigning amusement and booming out a nervous laugh, "Oh of course the _disabled_ one can't can he?"

There were more sounds from deep in the woods and a wild animal-like snarling almost shook the ground. Joe shuddered and gripped his wand.

"Look I'm sorry alright? He's not disabled he's just...a normal bloke like you and me only with...with a...disadvantage."

There was a thumping sound, like heavy footsteps running at him and he stumbled backwards as he spun around on the spot to see a blood drenched woman pressing against the magical barrier. Joe winced; she looked as if she had been ripped apart by a rabid animal. It had been her who was breathing so raggedly.

Behind her Joe saw what looked like a wild man, his eyes were milky white and his whole body was twitching as if he was possessed by something ten times stronger than him. He was charging at the woman. He had blood streaming from his mouth.

Joe had never seen a vampire before and could only guess that this was what he was seeing.

"No, but it's daylight," Joe said as a vicious growling became louder from within the woods, "and it can't be werewolves. Not without a moon."

The bleeding woman pounded against the magical barrier, the man Joe guessed to be her attacker was almost upon her now. He charged himself up with as much bravery as he could muster and cast a charm on the barrier that caused a temporary breech to let the woman pass through into the checkpoint area.

She didn't pass through though. She reached for him and grabbed the front of his robes. He dropped his wand in shock and was pulled through the wards by the woman who was now snarling as fiercely as the distant animalistic sounds from the woods.

"Oh Merlin no!" Joe gasped as he turned to run back through the barrier.

Only he didn't have a ticket. He hadn't checked in his wand in the proper manner.

"_Help me_!" He screamed out as the woman tore his neck open at the jugular.

His voice was lost to gurgles and soon his stomach was torn apart by the powerful fingers of the wild man as he reached them. The cloud began to rumble and a light rain began to fall as Joe was dragged, writing in agony and bleeding to death, into the woods.

At the top of the hill, not too far away two figures and an orange dog stepped out of a building.

"Oh shit," the dark haired one with glasses muttered as the rain fell heavier than before, "just our luck eh?"

* * *

_A/N Just to clarify something that confused my beta..._

_People who have no experience with disability or disabled people tend to think it's okay to describe certain people as 'disabled' to their faces._

_Nine out of ten 'Disabled' people will take great offence at this._

_To give an example of a similar act of accidental offence, my mother thinks that by calling black people 'coloured' she is being polite. (She grew up in the 1940s so please forgive her)_


	4. Behind Closed Doors

**Behind Closed Doors**

Harry reached the barrier and passed through it with a frown. Ron was almost wrestling with Marmalade, who strained against the tight grip his master had on his collar and snarled at some unseen thing in the distance.

"Marmalade, behave!" Harry huffed as he tried to take hold of the dog so Ron would be free to use his hands again and have a word with his distracted companion.

The Retriever's whole body rumbled with the deep growl that was emanating from inside its body. Ron huffed and squinted across the open space and towards the thick wooded area. He shook his head with a confused sigh and shrugged before snuffling his hands against his nose to suggest some kind of rodent had caught the dog's eye.

"He's trained not to go nuts over little furry distractions. He's supposed to be one hundred percent focused on looking after you," Harry grunted as Marmalade tried to lunge away from him and began to bare his teeth at the unseen threat in the woods.

It was Harry's words that made them both share a serious look. Marmalade wasn't flighty. He would always wait until they got home to begin playing the fool with Ron in the living room, and he'd never abandon his master to run off after a rabbit. There was something out there the dog felt Ron needed protecting from.

That alone almost made Harry let Marmalade go.

Ron stepped back through the barrier and looked around before passing back through with a huff of annoyance. He gave a tut before stepping in front of his dog with it's ginger hackles raised, and looked at it sternly.

Ron made an 'O' shape with his forefingers and thumbs and drew them apart sharply. Marmalade's snarls grew into a low rumble but the animal's lip was still curled. Marmalade seemed to be a stubborn as his master when being told what to do. Ron had ordered the dog to be quiet so that was exactly what he did; Harry was still straining to hold onto the retriever though.

Ron huffed and lifted his shoulders to give himself a more intimidating presence before pointing upward with his little finger. Marmalade's noiseless growls ceased and the animal lowered its head with a whimper.

"Shit Ron," Harry gasped in amazement, "one word from you and he's cowering. That's incredible!"

Ron obviously didn't seem too happy about having to tell his four legged friend off and ruffled the fur between Marmalade's ears briefly. He glanced over his shoulder and Harry felt the dog pulling against its collar a little, as if it was worried Ron was about to wander off to investigate.

Ron looked back at his pet and shook his head once while curving his thumb and forefinger and moving them across his face, his finger wriggling like a worm.

"I don't think he's being silly Ron," Harry said, anxiously, "where's the prat with our wands to let us across the border?"

Ron bit his bottom lip and looked over to the little booth the man had at his checkpoint and pushed his finger down into a loose fist before nodding towards the rickety shelter.

"Hello?" Harry called, "Oi, clothears!"

Ron smiled worriedly at this and picked up a stone from the ground to throw at the side of the cabin. The stone struck the wooden door and thudded down to the ground.

"Wake up and give us our wands before we report you and get you sacked!" Harry called out, pounding on the door of the booth with some degree of desperation.

Ron's brow crinkled and his index finger and thumb snapped apart as his hand moved across his face to point away and to the side.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "it's very strange. He was such a jobs worth when we came through before. He's not the type to bugger off for a quick pee and leave his post unattended."

Ron stroked his fingertips from his temple and forward twice. Marmalade began his low growling and glared into the woods once again.

"I don't know what happened Ron but Marmalade is getting freaked out by something and the git's gone walkabout. We should get back to the clinic and report this to Stour."

Ron nodded and got back to his feet. He lifted Marmalade's chin so the dog was looking up into his master's face and released the animal. Ron maintained his focus and pointed at Marmalade before slapping his thigh sternly. The dog moved in tightly to Ron's side and began to walk at heel with him.

Harry noticed that the defensive creature had taken up a position between Ron and the woods and didn't tear its eyes away from the darkened undergrowth all the way back up to the clinic.

* * *

When Hermione unlocked the front door to Ron and Harry's place she screamed in fright at the vicious snarling that greeted her. Marmalade was standing in the hallway, teeth bared and ears flat, as he barked threateningly before backing away when he saw it was her. The dog relaxed slightly and turned to run into the living room. 

Hermione had been so shocked by this she had drawn her wand and was pointing it down the hall shakily as Ron stumbled through the doorway and closed the living room door behind him to shut Marmalade out.

"Ron," Hermione gasped, "what on earth is going on? Are you alright?"

Ron ran his hand over his hair with a deep sigh before striding down the hall towards her and giving her a warm hug. Hermione hugged him back and listened to Marmalade scratching at the door frantically.

"What's wrong with Marmalade? Why is he so fierce all of a sudden?"

Ron leaned back and pushed Hermione's hair back away from her face and smiled tiredly.

"Don't worry Hermione," Harry said as he stepped out from the kitchen, flinging a tea towel over his shoulder and leaning against the doorframe, "he'll be alright now he knows it's you. He's just on protective alert right now."

Ron scrunched up his nose apologetically. He hit three fingers against his open palm and then splayed both hands and made small movements with them before his face. Then he moved his hands to either side of his head and let them hover a little before tapping himself on the chest.

Hermione took a handful of Ron's jumper and swallowed on hearing the news that the dog's behaviour was due to it being confused and worried about him.

"What happened to you?" she said shakily.

Ron's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically.

"He's fine Hermione, I swear," Harry smiled before gesturing for them to join him in the kitchen, "I've got the kettle on. Come and have tea with me."

Ron took hold of one of Hermione's hands and led her down the hall and past the closed door to the living room. There was a whimper and then the door handle jiggled and the door swung open. Marmalade ran between Ron's legs and circled them to take in exactly who was in the flat with them. The dog seemed satisfied and looked up at Ron with a gentle wag of the tail.

Ron sighed and pointed at Hermione. Marmalade lowered his head and nudged the side of her leg with his nose. She tentatively ruffled his fur before slipping quickly behind Ron and into the kitchen.

"He won't turn on you, I promise," Harry said with a confident smile.

"So why was he so ferocious just now?" Hermione whispered as she took a seat at the kitchen table and watched as Ron signed instructions to the animal to calm down and go and sit in his basket.

Marmalade trotted reluctantly over to his dog basket and settled inside. Hermione noted that the Retriever kept watching Ron at all times as he took up a seat next to Hermione and smiled, taking her hand where it rested upon the kitchen table and giving it a squeeze.

"He's got the wind up him and he's just being a good guard dog Hermione," Harry said as he poured boiling water into three mugs on the counter, "I'm really proud of him, of the way he wants to keep our boy safe."

Hermione squeezed Ron's hand hard and pressed her lips together tightly.

"Safe from what?" she managed to force out as she stared into his warm blue eyes.

Ron leaned over and kissed her softly but briefly. Everybody still had this heightened sense of concern when it came to Ron. They'd watched a headache turn into a coma and seen him have a heart attack after all. While this eternal mollycoddling played on Ron's nerves he did make a special effort not to get moody about their worries. Most of the time a smile and a cuddle reassured everybody enough to release their tension and let their anxiety go. The twins would get a punch in the arm. Hermione, of course, would get more than a cuddle.

Ron shook his finger as he broke away from her, his eyes still staring into hers intensely, before making a chopping motion from wrist to elbow up his left arm with his right hand.

_There was a problem earlier on._

Hermione felt her stomach twist inside her as Harry stirred the teas, the spoon tinkling against the mugs, and nodded for Ron to go on.

Ron held up one finger and then splayed the fingers of both hands, bringing them together to touch fingertips, before flinging his hands open and out to the sides. He made a fist before his chest with extended thumb and little finger and wriggled it from side to side before grasping his hands together and moving them apart, opening them.

"Somebody from the clinic is missing?" Hermione gasped, "A friend of yours?"

Ron snorted and Harry almost dropped the mugs he was carrying over to the table.

"Definitely not a friend of ours," Harry said darkly while Ron made a hand gesture that most certainly_ not_ British Sign Language.

"So who was this person then? What happened?" Hermione pressed on, stroking the back of Ron's hand and watching Harry sit himself down with his mug of tea clutched in both hands.

"This bloke who works on the border, the one who holds your wand when you go through, he wasn't there when we came out. They sent out a search party for him and Stour got someone in to get our wands back from the secure box so we could come home."

"Did they find him?" Hermione asked, seeming to know the answer from the way Ron avoided her eyes.

He shook his head and Harry took a sip of his tea before continuing.

"No, they had just telephoned for Aurors to come up and search both sides of the border when we were Disapparating. They did find blood though."

"Blood?"

Harry nodded grimly.

"That's what got Marmalade going we think, he could smell the blood, maybe the attacker if there was one, and he's been very protective of Ron ever since."

For the first time she could remember Hermione wanted to pet the orange coloured dog and smiled over at it in its basket. Marmalade wagged his tail and sat up hopefully.

Ron followed her focus and turned to look at his dog. He set his mug down and pointed from his mouth and away before rubbing his knuckles against his chest. Marmalade sprung from the basket and scurried over to Hermione and pushed his head under one of her hands, looking up at her with his tongue lolling.

"Apology accepted," Hermione stroked the dog from his head down his silky back, "thank you for keeping him out of trouble for me."

Marmalade leaned into Hermione's chair and seemed content to be made a fuss of while Harry continued.

"Well the rain was coming down a bit and it washed the blood away so we didn't notice it but when the staff and more security came outside to look for Joe, that's his name, they saw the blood. They said it looked like an animal attack or something."

Hermione let her hand leave Marmalade's fur to settle it upon Ron's thigh and rub up and down gently.

"Well I'm glad you both came right home and didn't hang around longer than you needed to."

"Didn't have much choice with the dog acting up," Harry smiled, "otherwise we'd have helped out...not that that git deserved it." Harry added darkly.

"Excuse me?" Hermione blinked.

Ron sighed and shook his head at her before snatching at his face and miming the tossing of something over his shoulder.

"No, come on, what did he mean by that?" Hermione pressed just as Marmalade jumped to his feet and stood rigid, staring at the front door.

"He called Ron disabled and demanded to check his arms before le-" Harry was grumbling just as the front door began to open and Marmalade charged down the hall with a wild burst of barks and snarls that made Ginny scream and pull the door closed again.

"Shit, get him back in the living room Ron, I'll let her in." Harry snapped as he rose from the table at the same time as Ron.

Hermione watched as Marmalade savaged the woodwork of the door with his claws and growled scarily before Ron yanked him away by his collar. Whatever had spilled that blood outside the clinic had obviously been a very dangerous predator to get such a sweet natured animal so wildly defensive of one of his 'pack'.

Marmalade frightened Hermione a little but at the same time she understood exactly how the animal was feeling. If anything were to threaten her Ron she would be willing to tear them to pieces to keep him safe.

* * *

She opened the door to the bathroom and stepped over Marmalade, who lifted his head and looked at her before wagging his tail twice and settling down again, before she slid open the door to the shower and feeling her blood pump a little faster at the sight of Ron under the running water. 

Suds slithered down his freckled torso and his usually pale skin was slightly pink from the hot water. He pushed his dark dripping hair back from his face and smiled at her. She removed her clothes and stepped into the shower with him, closing the door behind her to get some intimacy with her boyfriend that didn't have any chance of being interrupted by the dog.

The warm water weighed down her hair and soon it was smooth and flat. Ron's long expressive fingers played with a dripping ringlet before she stood on tip toe and began sucking upon the scar on Ron's throat tenderly. She heard Ron sigh and a curious sounding noise from the other side of the steamed glass of the shower cubicle. Marmalade was obviously curious about what could have stopped the pack grooming session.

"Down boy," Hermione said with a velvet tone that made Ron grin and lick his lips.

There was a grunt and a groan as Ron lowered himself down to his knees and kissed the inside of Hermione's thighs.

"Oh! Well, I didn't mean you but...that's fine if you...want to...oh my!"

Hermione braced herself against the wall and felt Ron's slick hands stroking her wet skin and his rough tongue dragging up her tummy and slurping at the cascade of water that snaked its way down her body.

He blinked rapidly as he looked up, trying to keep the falling droplets of water from his eyes, as his large hands rubbed small circles against Hermione's naked body – the sign for 'passion'. Hermione dropped down to her knees and launched herself into Ron's mouth hungrily.

She loved it when he signed with her body.

Ron pointed at Hermione and dragged his index finger across her forehead and then away with a flick. She lunged forward and sucked upon his finger. He'd told her she was hot, making him hot. Hermione felt sure the steam was not from the shower at all.

There was another whiny whimper from the other side of the door to the shower and an orangey blur appeared over Ron's shoulder. Hermione buried her fingers deep in Ron's hair and drank in a sweet kiss from Ron's moistened lips.

There was a slight scratching against the shower door before Hermione sighed into Ron's mouth and pushed in a little deeper while his hands slid down her bare back and settled at the curve of her arse.

Ron put his closed hand to his chin and moved it away from his face towards Hermione, splaying his fingers and stroking her cheek.

"You're beautiful too," she said as she kissed the palm of his hand, "so beautiful."

Ron grazed the pad of his thumb a little way down Hermione's breast bone and sucked on her bottom lip while Marmalade gave a frustrated sound and snuffled against the door noisily.

She grabbed Ron's hips and pulled them into hers while signing the same thing back against Ron's body.

"I need you too."

Ron smiled and tapped his chin with his fingers.

"So much," Hermione said roughly and Ron's chest rumbled with his breathy silent moan at the same moment Marmalade growled with frustration and gave a low gruff half bark outside the door.

Ron turned his head and frowned but Hermione grabbed his chin and directed his face back to hers and licked a droplet of water from the tip of his nose and then stroked along the curve of Ron's top lip with her tongue. He smiled and buried his face into the side of her neck, nipping and sucking at her wet skin for a moment before moving back a little and drawing a circle around her face with his index finger very slowly. The tip of his finger stroked the skin on either cheek and settled on her chin, lifting her head up so her mouth met his.

She loved it when he said she was pretty. It was always nice before but when he did it with signs, with touch, it meant so much more than just the word. They both had their eyes closed but she could feel Ron's thumb touching her chin and dragging away to the right.

"Mm-hmmm!" She murmured into their kiss before letting her hands slide down Ron's wet chest and over the ridges of his lean stomach, further down...down...down until...

The sudden impatient bark made them jump apart with fright.

"Oh really! It's like trying to have sex with a Scooby Doo album playing in the background!"

Ron shook his head dismissively and slapped his hands in a brushing clean motion before pointing upward and then reaching for her again. She huffed and shoved him away before sliding back the door and stepping out of the shower.

"It did happen Ron," she said as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, resisting the urge to kick Marmalade out of her way, "and you let it happen. Who allows their dog to go into the shower with them?"

Ron looked greatly affronted and gestured down at the dog, wagging its tail quite happily now he had his master back to himself again, waved his hand frantically on either side of his head and prodding himself in the chest.

"You're not going to get attacked by a mystery assailant in the shower Ronald. _I_ know it, _you_ know it," she turned and pointed down at Marmalade, "and _he_ knows it."

Ron sighed deeply and began to sign her name but she turned her back on him, pausing to wrap and towel around her, and marched out of the bathroom defiantly.

"You're spoiling that dog Ron, and you're neglecting me. I won't stand for it anymore. Discipline it or start staying at my place when you want to be with me."

She didn't turn back to give him a chance to argue. Her hair dripped on the carpet and she left soapy footprints behind her all the way to the bedroom.

"Please don't tell me you just had a '_it's the dog or me'_ fight?" Harry pleaded with her from a slight opening in his bedroom door.

"No Harry, I'd never do that to him," she sighed wearily, "but he's got to put that animal in its place."

"Maybe tomorrow?" Harry said with a sadness in his eyes that let Hermione know he was upset that his thoughtful gift was causing so much friction.

"We'll see."

* * *

Harry woke with a start as Hedwig screeched on her perch and glared at the frantic owl tapping on the window as if worried a hungry cat was going to pounce at any moment. 

"Shit," Harry grumbled, "who the hell is owling me at this time in the morning?"

Pulling on his glasses and adopting his most grumpy face he climbed out of bed and plodded heavily over to the window to slide it open and let the owl inside. He yawned deeply and ignored the smack around the head the owl gave him as it flew in and perched on the bedpost, waving its leg eagerly.

Harry huffed and ran his hand through his hair, which was sticking up even more than usual – Ginny called it his eternal bed-head, before heavy handily pulling the note free from the bird's leg and frowning at the sound of Hermione having a one-sided conversation on the other side of the door.

"Look I've said twice already Ron, I'm not angry."

Harry unrolled the parchment and began to read the hastily scribbled note.

_Harry, Ron, things have escalated here since you left yesterday._

"I won't snuggle with you because I can't snuggle with you. There's a dog between us!"

_Joe is still missing although other bodies have been found._

Harry's eyes widened and his face fell.

"I don't hate your dog Ronald. I want to brush my teeth!"

_It appears there is a virus, something along the lines of Rabies the Aurors said – apparently there has been a secret investigation on the border. I'm not best pleased at being kept in the dark I can tell you._

Harry read and walked towards the door at the same time. He fumbled for the doorknob.

There was a loud pounding and Harry opened the door to see Ron hammering on the bathroom door furiously, Marmalade cowering at the end of the hall, watching his master unhappily.

"Ron I'm not ignoring you but I refuse to argue with you. Now leave me alone and calm down."

Ron huffed and spun around, ears pinking, jumping when he saw Harry. His eyes looked hurt and he kicked back at the door with frustration before gesturing to it and stroking his thumb down his cheek.

"Ron forget that for a minute," Harry said, holding up the letter, "I just got..."

Ron slammed himself in the chest with his palm, then moved his index finger to his nose across and forward, and held both hands with clawed index and middle fingers moving up and down rapidly. He finished his little rant by dropping his head and touching his index fingers and thumbs, splaying his fingers and then pulling his hands apart.

Harry let the hand holding the note fall to his side and took a step towards Ron, placing a hand upon his shoulder. He nodded sadly at Ron before calling over his shoulder at the closed door.

"Hermione, this isn't fair. He wants to talk to you."

"Harry I'm on the toilet!" Hermione said, sounding very flustered.

Ron rolled his eyes and slumped against the wall beside the door, running his hand through his hair.

"No you're not and I know you feel like hell for closing the door on him now open up, there's a problem at the clinic and I need to speak to both of you."

Ron looked up and stared at Harry. He blinked and twirled his fingers enquiringly while the bathroom door opened and Hermione stood before him with an anxious look on her face.

"What's wrong?" she said fearfully.

"On the toilet my arse," Harry snorted.

"Did you just make that up to get me to open the door?" Hermione gasped accusingly.

Ron turned and looked at Hermione briefly before shaking his head and walking away with a huff, tapping his index and middle fingers to his throat and stomping away with his hand waving at them dismissively as he went.

"I've got a letter from Stour!" Harry yelled, "Aurors have found a serious, possibly fatal virus or something striking people down with a kind of rabies and we have to go and help her evacuate the patients."

Ron spun around and swallowed. He tapped the side of his face with his fingers before moving both hands, face up, in small circles just as Hermione said the exact same thing he was signing.

"When? Where?"

"Now and Merlin knows where."

Ron was striding back towards them signing, his closed hand moving forward from his chin and his fingers splaying open. Then he hit the edge of his right hand against the edge of his left to make an 'x' twice.

"You don't think?" Harry asked with great sarcasm at Ron's remark that an evacuation wouldn't work, "What makes you say that? Could it be the clinic full of people terrified of the magical world leaving the one place in the country where magic cannot be performed?"

Ron snatched the letter away from Harry and began to read.

"So there's a _fatal infection_ and people are being forcibly removed from the location of this _fatal infection_ and you two are planning on heading towards it?" Hermione said, looking as if she wanted to knock their heads together.

"We have to go. There are patients there who won't go unless they speak to Ron, they depend on him."

"And I don't?" Hermione exclaimed, "I don't need my boyfriend here with me, alive and well?"

Ron snorted and put his hands together like saloon doors and then mimed turning a key.

"Ron I'm sorry I locked you out alright?" Hermione said as she rushed to him and grabbed handfuls of the front of his t shirt, "That was just a silly argument over the dog sleeping on the bed. That doesn't mean anything. This is important Ronald, this is dangerous and you don't have to put yourself in danger anymore, neither of you."

Harry loved it when Hermione lumped him in with her 'Ron-concern'.

Ron finished reading the letter and sighed deeply. He looked from Hermione to Harry and back again. He dragged his thumb down his chest a little and gestured between himself and Harry.

"No they don't!" Hermione said furiously, causing Marmalade to jump up at both of them, ready to join in the wrestling he seemed to think was about to happen, "They don't need you for this."

"Hermione there are people in there who will go berserk if they try to move them. Witches and wizards who have no control over their wandless magic and will be a danger to people under stress."

Ron nodded and Hermione's eyes began to glisten with tears. She shoved Marmalade back down to the floor and hugged Ron tightly to her.

"I'm sorry okay, don't go, please don't go. I'm sorry I closed the door when you were talking to me. Don't do this to punish me Ron, please."

Ron curled his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. Marmalade was about to spring back up at them again, tail waging happily, but Ron made a slow gesture with his hand that caused the dog to settle down immediately and sit still quite obediently. Hermione sniffed and looked up at Ron. Harry watched as he let Hermione go and pointed with both his hands to his shoulder.

"_This_ isn't your responsibility!" Hermione said with a stamp of the foot.

"Hermione I'll be with him, they wouldn't let us go there if they thought the risk was too high," Harry tried to placate her with little success.

Hermione cupped Ron's face in her hands and pleaded him to stay with her reddening eyes.

Ron patted himself on the chest reluctantly before making a 'C' shape with his fingers and thumbs and made a wringing motion with them. Then he splayed both hands and brought his fingers together at the fingertips.

"What about your commitment to _me_?" Hermione said sadly.

Ron tapped the side of his head with his thumb and then rubbed his palm in a circle over the other before pointing at himself.

"He's right Hermione," Harry said as he made his way over to them with a sigh, "you know how much you mean to him but this is something he has to do. This is his job and this is something he..._we_ care about, people we care about."

"Well," Hermione said as she looked down at Ron's hands and then took the parchment to scan its contents herself, "this is a Muggle and magical problem covering both areas and I know about both magical and Muggle healing so I'm going too."

Ron's eyes widened and he shook his head determinately.

"Oh yes I am!"

Ron lifted his hands to sign but Hermione grabbed them and pinned them to his sides. She rose up onto her toes and kissed him softly. Marmalade made an impatient sound at the back of his throat and Harry resigned himself to taking Hermione to work with him that day.

* * *

_A/N Happy New Year to all you wonderful people!_


	5. Give Me Strength

_A/N I didn't forget it, I swear I didn't forget! I have been writing so much over the last month that I had to keep pushing this back so sorry for the wait and thank you for your pateince. I will never abandon Mute!Ron, he is my life partner._

_Over the course of this month I have been sponsored by four of my beautiful readers to write fanfic to raise money for an AIDS charity so you'll see some random one-shots popping up. Don't worry, normal Solstice Muse service will resume in March._

**Give Me Strength**

As soon as she had explained to her boss at St Mungo's why she needed to go, Neville had offered his services as well and the four of them, plus Marmalade of course, set off to an Apparition point to get to the non-magical border.

Ron held Marmalade in his hands, turned on the spot and vanished with a crack. Harry followed immediately afterwards. When he cleared his head and looked around his vision was immediately blurred by fat raindrops landing upon the lenses of his glasses. He had never got around to casting the Impervius charm when he had decided to buy a new pair rather than just continually repairing the cheap pair the Dursleys had grudgingly given him.

Two more cracks sounded as Ron dropped Marmalade to the ground and attached his lead to the leather collar and reached out to take Hermione's hand. It didn't sit well with Harry that Marmalade was already staring into the woods, tensed to lunge forward and attack.

Hermione bent over and patted the dog's side softly.

"Good boy Marmalade," she said nervously.

It said a hell of a lot about how uncomfortable she was with this situation that she was happy to see Marmalade's over protectiveness regarding Ron take the animal over and whole heartedly encourage it. Ron whistled to his dog and it turned its head to look up at him. Ron smiled before pointing his and Hermione's hands towards the clinic and then pointing the hand holding the lead behind it and moved them both forward. Marmalade made a soft gruff sound and Hermione laughed as the dog pushed Ron behind the knee with his nose.

"I think he wants us to get going," Neville smiled nervously.

"Yeah, good idea," Harry said as he cast the spell on his glasses non-verbally and put them on to scan the horizon and draw his wand at the ready, "you told Marmalade to follow you Ron...lead the way mate."

Hermione hadn't been out in the non-magical zone since Ron and Harry had gone missing looking for Jess. They'd both been badly hurt, Harry by vile Death Eaters and Ron by the internal strain his scars carried with him at the time. She shuddered and Ron noticed immediately.

He began to shake his cloak off his shoulders and she pulled the thick fabric up once again with a warm yet determined smile.

"I have a cloak thank you Ronald."

Ron's hands lifted to rub briskly against his arms while his shoulders hunched. Hermione linked her arm with his and leaned into his side as they walked onward.

"I wasn't cold. I was just remembering the last time I was here with you."

Ron's eyes looked downwards and he lifted his arms up and pulled Hermione right into his side tightly.

"It's alright, you're my big strong Ron again now aren't you?"

She delighted in hearing Ron snort through his nose and break into a smile before rolling his eyes. She beamed at him as he flexed his arm, the one holding Marmalade's lead, in a manly way and his tendons pushed against his freckled skin.

"Very toned...in a lithe kind of way."

Ron looked offended before pinching his cheek, causing Hermione to giggle.

"I like your wiry body. Who needs big bulging muscles hiding such a perfect frame?"

Ron still wore the expression of a man being insulted and Neville leaned in and muttered into her ear.

"I'd give it up before you destroy his self image altogether."

Harry chuckled from slightly behind them and Ron narrowed his eyes and scowled at him over his shoulder.

"Well we could beef you up like Charlie but how often do you see a woman on his arm rhapsodising over his body?" Harry said innocently.

Ron seemed to think about this before blinking and frowning down at Hermione. He made a 'C' shape with his thumb and forefinger and flexed his bicep; Ron's sign for Charlie's name; and then rocked his right fist from side to side in his left palm, thumb pointing upwards.

"Well," Hermione pretended to give Ron's query some serious thought, "it would explain so much."

"Yeah," Harry added, barely able to contain his amusement, "Never see him with a woman...always chooses to spend time alone with other burly men out in the wilderness...builds his body up like an Adonis...definitely gay your Charlie."

Neville laughed and Hermione put her hand over her mouth to stifle her own chortle. Ron huffed and rolled his eyes.

"You're the one insinuating that being well built is associated to being well gay!" Harry said as he caught them up and slung his arm over Ron's shoulders with a mischievous grin.

"And think of it this way Ron," Neville said happily, "None of us is particularly muscular and we've all got girlfriends while Crabbe and Goyle are the size of bungalows and spend every night grunting at each other in the Pot and Kettle at the end of Knockturn Alley."

This cheered Ron up no end as they reached the checkpoint and handed their wands in to the Auror who had taken over after Joe's savage death. As he handed tickets out to each of them he scrunched up his face at something written on the clipboard.

"What's this about checking arms?" he muttered before looking up at Ron and frowning, "I'm supposed to check your arms this says."

Ron shifted uncomfortably and Hermione stiffened beside him. She'd have something to say about this if the security wizard was about to upset Ron when they'd all been in such a good mood after their tense morning together. Harry and Neville were both drawing breath to inform the Auror that the check list was almost a year out of date when the man pressed his lips together and wrote on the paper with his quill.

"Yes, two arms present and correct."

Ron's face brightened and Harry laughed briefly before clearing his throat and gesturing towards the non magical border.

"Shall we?"

* * *

The staff of the clinic were rushing all over the place. One of the patients had locked herself in the cupboard under the sink on hearing she was to be moved to a place where magic could be performed. Just as Ron tugged at Harry's elbow to pull him over and try to calm the witch down there was a loud crash and three of the clinic's strongest porters wrestled a hyperventilating wizard from his room while he screamed pleas at the top of his lungs. 

"Please, don't make me go! I don't want to go outside. You can't make me. It's all a lie. It's safe here and it's dangerous everywhere else. You can't take me back there!"

Ron huffed and looked at Harry his eyes, pained at being torn between two patients at once.

"Don't worry love," Hermione said immediately, rising onto her tiptoes to kiss Ron on the cheek, "I'll try to help him."

Ron made two 'C' shapes with his fingers and moved them away from his eyes and down. Hermione smiled and whispered that she would be careful before hurrying to assist. Somebody ran from the day room, chased by a healer from St Mungo's who had clearly offered to come to the clinic and help with the evacuation too. As the pair of them sprinted down the corridor towards them Marmalade barked and Ron clicked his fingers to get the dog's attention and brought his fingers and thumbs together in an 'O' shape before quickly drawing them apart. Marmalade's ears flattened to his head and Ron smiled and gave the animal a thumbs up to let him know he wasn't being naughty. Marmalade wagged his tail.

Ron took a deep breath and made another move to assist the witch under the sink when a familiar voice yelled out to him.

"Ron! Harry! Oh thank goodness, I need you in here now." Stour said frantically, gesturing into her office.

Ron's eyes widened and he made a desperate gesture of his own into the bathroom.

"Look," Neville said, more than used to frantic emergencies from his time at St Mungo's and trying to address several problems happening at once, "Harry, you go and help the girl and I'll translate for Ron for now okay?"

"Brilliant idea Nev," Harry said, running into the bathroom and skidding across the floor to the sink on his knees.

Ron, Neville and Marmalade pushed themselves to the wall while a sedated witch was levitated down the corridor and out through the front door. They then crossed over and entered Stour's office. The place looked as if a hurricane had torn through it.

Stour's hair was all over the place and furniture was upended. Ron followed the Nurse's eyes and saw a wide eyed young man perching upon an examination table in the corner of the room brandishing a broken vase as a weapon. He was out of breath and shaking with adrenaline. Ron took a deep breath and very slowly stepped forward.

"Don't come near me!" the wizard yelled, pointing the jagged glass neck of the vase at Ron, despite the five or six feet between them.

Ron raised both his hands and froze on the spot. Marmalade began to growl and stood before his master.

"Keep that thing away from me!" the panicked patient warned while Nurse Stour nervously took the lead from Ron's hand and tugged the dog back.

"He's not going to hurt you, he just wants to t-" Neville said tremulously.

"Who are you? Where's the other one? Where's your usual translator?" the desperate man said as he pressed himself as flat against the wall as he could manage.

Ron waved over his shoulder to Neville and shook his clasped hands in front of him before tapping two fingers into his left palm.

"This is my friend Neville," the round faced wizard translated as he stepped forward to join Ron.

Ron turned his head slightly and smiled before gesturing to Neville to stand to one side and translate out of harm's way. Neville fixed his jaw with determination and looked back at the troubled young wizard.

"I'm going to move out of the way and just translate for Ron okay? But if you threaten him I'm going to step forward again. I will not let you hurt my friend understand?"

Ron tried to calm Neville by bringing his thumb and fingers together and drawing his hands apart in a slow and steady line, the sign for peace. Neville nodded and Ron looked back at the frightened man.

Ron hit the side of his hand into his palm before resting his fisted right hand in his left palm and moved it away from his body.

"I'm going to help you," Neville translated.

"You're going to throw me out!" the wizard said with a bitter growl, "You're going to take my home away from me and lock me away with the nutters."

Ron shook his head and took another step forward, ignoring the almighty crash and scream from somewhere else in the clinic and Marmalade's struggles to drag Stour to his master's side and protect him.

"Ron I mean it!" the wizard said, tears welling in his eyes and jagged glass waving before him desperately, "I'm not going and I won't let you take me."

Ron stopped again and waved over his shoulder before shaking his finger before him.

"There's a problem," Neville said, watching Ron intently and ready to spring forward and pull Ron back if needs be.

Ron made circles with his hands, thumbs and fingers making tiny 'o' shapes, left hand clockwise and right hand anti-clockwise. He then biffed the back of each hand against his mouth.

"There's nothing to get frustrated about," Neville said as Ron shook his head and waved his hands bout the sides of his head, "worried..." Neville added while watching Ron tapping his chest with his fingers and then laying his hands palms up and miming passing something behind him. Then he rubbed the top of his fist with his palm and crossed his hands over each other. "...we're going back to a hideaway, somewhere safe."

Ron nodded and watched the nervous man, hoping he was still able to think rationally.

"It's safe here," the wizard said to Ron.

Ron shook his head and took another step forward, this time the terrified young man didn't brandish the vase in a threatening manner. Ron gained confidence from this and pointed upwards with both index fingers and banged his fists together before waving his arms all around him at his surroundings before drawing a large circle in the air to encompass them all. He held his hand flat and palm up at his breast bone and then moved it upwards.

"There's something around here that will make all of us sick."

The wizard shook his head. Marmalade snarled and Stour muttered an excuse and hauled the dog out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"They're closing the clinic down, they're sending us all away and they sent you in because they think I won't fight a...a..."

Ron tilted his head to one side and waited.

"Don't you dare call him what you're about to call him," Neville said coolly, "Don't you dare."

"I'm sorry," the young lad said as he lowered his head.

Ron smiled sadly and took another step closer to him. Ron was within reach now and he looked from the broken vase up to the boys face and lifted his chin to point at his scarred throat. He stared right into the bloodshot eyes and made a cutting motion with his fingers across his throat with his fingers before leaning to one side and stabbing his index fingers downward alternately.

Neville gasped and the wizard looked at him with a desperate whimper.

"What? What did he say?"

Neville looked at Ron and shook his head. Ron smiled and nodded once before gesturing lazily to the young man.

"I won't say it," Neville said, voice cracking.

"What?" The frantic boy said, waving the broken glass in Neville's direction before turning to Ron and pointing the jagged edge back at Ron, just inches from his face, and sobbing as his arm trembled fearfully, "Tell me what he said or I'll..."

"Do you want to cut the spastic?" Neville said as if the sentence was bile on his tongue, "That's what he wanted me to ask you. Do you want to cut up the _spastic_?"

The wizard's arm dropped immediately and he stared at Ron with complete devastation etched on his features.

"I'd never," he choked back a sob, "I've never called you...you...you're not..." Tears fell from the shaken wizard's eyes and he threw the glass vase aside and fell forward into Ron's chest, "I'm sorry."

Ron hugged the crying patient and rubbed his hand up and down his back comfortingly. Neville sighed deeply and slumped against the wall. The wizard was crying so hard it sounded as if he was aching inside.

"I'm scared to go." He sobbed.

Ron nodded his head and heard the door click as Stour came back in and made a sound of relief to see that Ron had got through to the young man.

Ron tapped the side of his head with his thumb and smiled at Neville.

"I know," Neville translated, "He knows."

* * *

Harry cradled the witch in his arms as the sleeping draught took effect and she drifted away peacefully. 

"Thank you Mr Potter," the Healer said as he lifted the witch onto a floating charm and sent her on her way with the other sedated patients, "I don't know how she managed to fit under there at all."

"It's amazing how small you can make yourself when you need to be," Harry smiled sadly.

With a pat on Harry's shoulder the Healer set off and Harry stretched out his aching bones and set off to look for Ron. Hermione was working like a trooper; her experience on the emergency ward was really paying off in this situation. She wiped her brow and puffed out her cheeks as, flushed in the face; she marched over to Harry and gave him a hug.

"Straight into the trenches eh?" she smiled tiredly.

"As always," Harry nodded.

"Have you seen Ron?" They both asked at the same time, before laughing.

"We need to get moving people, this is supposed to be an evacuation and we've been here for over a bloody hour already!" An Auror with a deep booming voice roared over the commotion as he clapped his hands.

"Having any trouble with any of the patients sir?" Harry asked helpfully.

"I'm having trouble with everybody son."

Hermione raised her eyebrows and the Auror ran a gnarled leathery hand over his thinning hair and gestured behind himself lazily.

"Just calm anybody who's screaming will yeh?"

"Of course," Hermione nodded before hurrying off down the corridor.

Harry was about to follow her when he heard Neville's voice calling out.

"Harry, you free? Ron would like his nerves of steel translator back."

Harry grinned and jogged over to Neville's side.

"Where is he?"

Neville nodded into the room where Ron was holding the hand of a patient as he slumped in his chair and was levitated away by Stour. Ron cleared his throat before hitting three fingers into his open palm and shrugging.

"Where's Marmalade?" Harry and Neville translated as one.

"That's the second time I've done that in as many minutes!" Harry huffed with a roll of the eyes.

"I locked him in the supply cupboard, out of harm's way," Stour said with a wince of apology, "he really was getting too hard to handle when you were being threatened Ron."

"What?" Harry said, glaring at Neville as if he had been the one to threaten Ron.

Ron pointed at his thumb and then drew a line across his chin with his little finger before shading his face with his hand.

"He was really bad huh?" Harry asked sadly as he stepped forward and rubbed Ron's arm.

Ron shrugged. Neville smiled and slapped Ron on the back.

"You were fantastic Ron," he said before wincing slightly, "but don't ever make me say that kind of thing about you again okay?"

Ron shoved Neville away with a silent chuckle and Neville relaxed before looking at the hustle and bustle at the far end of the corridor.

"I'm going to see if I can help with some calming techniques. Is Hermione down there?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded and turned back to Ron as Neville set off, "you didn't guilt Andrew into thinking he'd called you a retard did you."

Ron rubbed an anti-clockwise circle on his flat left palm.

Harry sighed deeply, desperate times called for desperate measures but he hated how Ron had the ability to voice other people's prejudices so bluntly. Some of the names he had heard Ron called made him so angry and yet he couldn't be angry with Ron when he repeated them in his own manipulative way to prove a point.

"C'mon," Harry tugged Ron's arm, "we're needed."

A tubby witch with prematurely greying hair screamed Ron's name and ran to him, clinging onto his jumper tightly. Ron instinctively curled his arms around her and shushed her while Harry tried to find out what she had got so worked up about.

"Abigail, this really isn't as bad as it sounds. Well go somewhere else in the countryside and there'll be nobody around to do any magic. The Aurors will make sure nobody hurts you while you're in the new place."

"It's the Death Eaters again isn't it?" Abigail screamed into Ron's chest.

"What? No!" Harry frowned.

"They've come back I know it. They killed that poor man right in front of me and they took Jess away and hurt her. They hurt Ron," Abigail looked up at Ron with a tear streaked face, "I need you, you can't get killed, and you make me feel better. Promise me you'll stay with me."

"Abigail, there aren't any Death Eaters this time, there's an infection that's all."

"That's just what they're saying!" Abigail screeched before clinging even tighter to Ron, "You have to hide with me. I have a hiding place, they'll never look Ron. Come...Come with me!"

Abigail began to drag Ron along the corridor by the arm. Ron looked back at Harry with worried eyes to make sure he was following them.

"I'm with you mate, don't worry, you just look after her alright?"

Ron turned back to Abigail as she pulled him into a side room a few doors down from the supply cupboard Marmalade was creating a racket inside. Harry guessed he could either smell Ron nearby or heard all the commotion and was trying to claw his way out to protect his owner from danger.

Harry stood in the doorway and saw Ron crouching down and peering underneath a bedside table, squinting in disbelief as Abigail's legs vanished and the room appeared empty apart from him. Ron looked over his shoulder and beckoned to Harry.

"Where the hell did she go?" Harry said as he crawled up behind Ron as the skinny redhead's body began to wriggle itself into the tight space before him.

Ron's hands were moving quickly but Harry couldn't see much through the dark. He heard Ron huff in frustration, sometimes you really need to be able to do something as simple as call somebody's name. Harry grabbed Ron's leg and squeezed it. Ron shook some dust out of his hair as he backed out of the bedside table with no back to it.

Ron moved his slightly cupped hand across his mouth with a throwing movement. He then splayed both his hands with a huff and moved them outwards in semi circular movements.

"Well if there's not enough space for you to fit there definitely won't be for me!" Harry snorted.

Ron looked very annoyed before he jumped to his feet and pulled the bedside table away from the wall to reveal the hole in the wall.

"Bloody hell, has she been tunnelling out?"

Ron rolled his eyes and tried to lean through and shift himself through the gap.

"Careful mate, I don't want you getting stuck in there," Harry said fretfully.

Ron grunted as he tried to stand up in the narrow cavity between the inner and outer wall and side stepped out of Harry's sight.

"Seriously Ron I don't like not being able to see you," Harry said as he ducked his head and tried to see through the darkness.

"He's alright Harry," Abigail's voice echoed back from somewhere deeper in the hollow.

"Look Abby, come back, it's all very well for you if you get stuck in there. You can call for help."

Ron's hand appeared and slapped Harry across the side of the head.

"Ow!" Harry winced as his glasses were knocked askew, "I'm only worrying about you ya git!"

He heard Ron huff and then some shuffling sounds before Abigail made a startled sound and spoke up.

"Is that you Ron?"

"What?" Harry asked.

"He's got my hand," Abigail said with resignation.

"Good, pull her out!" Harry demanded impatiently.

There were two sharp bangs and Harry held his breath before calling out.

"Was that you telling me to shut up?"

There was another short knock on the wall. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Y'know you don't make it easy to stop worrying about you Ron?"

"Why do you worry about him so much?" Abigail's voice sounded clear but curious, "He can do anything, he's Ron."

Harry gave a quiet laugh before sighing deeply and peering into the darkness between the two walls.

"I worry because people have hurt him," Harry said, his voice sounding a little lost, hating Ron being out of sight yet so close by, "People hurt him very badly and I won't ever stop wanting to know he's safe."

There was a long pause before Abigail spoke up again.

"Why would you come here when the Death Eater's were attacking if they've hurt you so much already Ron?"

Harry listened and heard Ron shuffling. He grimaced in frustration at not being able to help him communicate.

"There are no Death Eaters this time," Harry said with confidence, "and you know what Abigail? Even if there were he'd still come for you. Ron's been hurt and Ron can get scared but he never runs away and he wouldn't ever hide in a wall. He's not in there to hide with you. He's in there, despite being terrified of spiders, because he never leaves anybody he cares about behind when they need him."

There was another long pause.

"You're afraid of spiders Ron?" Abigail said.

Harry listened and heard nothing.

"I'm sorry," Abigail said before grunting as she shifted in the narrow space, "you go and I'll follow you."

Harry heard a relieved sigh and soon Ron's feet were visible again. Harry moved back to give Ron room to shimmy backwards through the hole in the wall, grabbing him around the legs to help pull his long dusty body out, and began dusting him off lightly.

Ron took Harry's hand briefly and gave it a squeeze, smiling with relief that they'd got Abigail to think clearly again. Harry lowered his head to stare into Ron's eyes.

"You're okay yeah?"

Ron's smile seemed more natural as he nodded his head and shuffled around to help Abigail out. The grubby faced witch looked at Ron with concern.

"I'm sorry I made you go in there when you were frightened."

Ron put his hand to his head and then moved it away as he splayed his fingers. He smiled at her, patted himself on the chest and gave the thumbs up.

"Forget it, I'm fine." Harry translated.

Abigail got to her feet, as did Harry and Ron, and she bit her bottom lip apprehensively.

"I'll go and tell Nurse Stour that I'm ready to go now."

Ron beamed at her and puffed out his chest while raising clenched fists upwards before him.

"You're very brave," Harry interpreted, though he was looking at Ron as he said it.

"He is isn't he," Abigail smiled before turning and heading out of the room.

Ron's eyes were wide and he pointed at the spot she'd just vacated and glared at Harry for not making his point clear.

"We knew what you meant," Harry said as he slapped Ron on the back and nodded to the door, "let's get back to it shall we?"

Somewhere in the next room Marmalade began to howl.


	6. Separation

_A/N BIG thanks to Natz for betaing this so fast. The reason for the delay was my slow writing. I'm back now, don't fret. So...back to Mute!Ron_

**Separated**

The last of the evacuation was in progress and Aurors and Staff from the clinic were escorting a group down to the border where they could be magically transported to the stand-in clinic. Harry was helping the nervous patients along, reassuring them and easing the anxiety that felt like it was almost crackling in the air. He had volunteered his services to keep Ron in the clinic, still unnerved by Marmalade's howls and the fact that there was something out there that could be a threat.

Hermione was working with Ron in the room of a hysterical young patient while Neville was organising the next group for transfer and trying to pair them off so nobody could go missing without their partner alerting the group to it.

Harry's eyes scanned the woods as the gravel crunched beneath his feet. The fact that Marmalade had been determined that Ron be shielded from the woods put Harry on edge as he walked with such a big crowd, completely unarmed, to the checkpoint at the border.

He thought about what he'd told Abigail. How he would never be able to stop worrying about Ron. It was true and he wondered if Ron minded hearing that. Harry knew that he hadn't wanted to be a victim during that whole time he was Voldemort's prime target. He had hated people tip-toeing around him as if he was a nutcase, well more than when he wasn't actually a nutcase – he couldn't really complain when he drove himself slightly bonkers with guilt over what he'd done to Ron.

There it was, it always came back to Ron.

Ron had saved him from himself and he had dedicated himself to giving Ron the life he deserved. He had earned his respected position as a therapist for the magically damaged. He had earned his independence from both his family and from Harry himself. Harry cast a big shadow for such a short person. Ron had worked so hard and made everybody so proud of him and yet he had also suffered so much.

Ron had been hurt many times over and Harry would never, no matter how much time passed, ever be able to let go of his need to shield him from danger. His life was dedicated to the preservation of Ron's.

He explained that to Ginny once and received a punch in the shoulder. Apparently girlfriends don't like to hear proclamations of devotion and lifelong commitment to their brother.

There was a shout from the magical border, followed by a scream, and Harry rose up on tiptoes to peer over the heads of the crowd. There was a commotion and a robed figure at the front roared at everybody to get back to the clinic immediately. There were a group of nervous volunteers who were charging through the barrier and trying to reclaim their wands but another scream set Harry's teeth on edge and one of the patients became hysterical and began gibbering about blood.

That was when Harry saw it. The Auror who had shouted at them to retreat was now gushing blood from his throat while the people who had passed through the non-magical border tried to shoot spells through to drive away the attacker, no attackers, to no avail. The spells bounced off again and somebody shouted for the border to be secured.

"Everyone on this side is infected, we can't pass through, we can only go back and lock down the clinic from inside," a member of staff boomed out while waving his hands as if he was guiding in an aeroplane for landing at a busy airport.

Harry began tugging at the clothing of the people in front of him and dragging them backwards, turning and pushing them back up the hill.

"Go back, get back and warn the others there's an attack of some sort!" Harry ordered.

The crowd before him was scattering in all directions. Some were pounding on the sealed barrier, begging to be let through, and others were trampling those too slow to move out of the way. Harry was about to plead for calm when he saw why the stampede had got out of control.

The man wasn't waving his arms about any more. A gang of dirty, bloodied half naked people were waving them as they fought over the bloodied stumps. The man was screaming himself hoarse as he was knocked to the ground and set upon by more of the animalistic people, skin and bone and cloudy white eyes, as they ripped into his flesh with their teeth.

A woman ran at the attacking hoard with a rock and smashed in the back of one of the human animals' skull and the bloody spatter hit her face and sent her staggering before she dropped the rock and blinked her eyes several times. She shook her head, twitched and then looked Harry in the eye with her rapidly clouding brown ones. She salivated like a starved dog and began running towards him.

Harry turned and set off after the others back to the clinic. He bellowed at the top of his lungs to make himself heard over the frightened screams.

"It's an infection! The blood is infected. Don't let anyone into the clinic if they're bleeding!"

Then his stomach dropped and turned to lead. He saw Ron and Neville running out to try and gather the frantic patients and heard them back inside.

"Get back inside!" Harry roared and panted, legs pumping hard and heart pushing against his ribs with the intensity of its pounding.

"Oh Merlin help me!" a young man was crying as he rolled on the ground clutching a broken leg.

He had been trampled and then had tried to run but his injury had overcome him. Harry stopped and stooped to pick him up.

"I've got you okay?" He started running again and almost ripped his throat raw hollering as he saw Ron running towards them rather than away, "Get back inside! Get everyone back inside! It's contagious and we can't stop them."

Ron turned and signed something to Neville before looking back at Harry with that look of determination that Harry hated to see at times like this. Neville set about bundling people inside the clinic and Ron thundered down the slope to help Harry carry his injured companion.

"No you fucking stubborn git," Harry snarled through gritted teeth, trying to run even faster when he heard his passenger whimpering that they were being gained on, "Go back, secure the building, it's airborne for all we know."

Ron was already at Harry's side and they slammed chest to chest with an 'oof' before Ron pulled one of the wounded man's arms over his shoulder and the two of them dragged him up the slope towards the clinic.

"When I tell you to go back you fucking well go back Weasley!" Harry shouted furiously.

Ron gave a grunt of frustration at the situation and not being able to tell Harry to go fuck himself. The thudding of numerous footsteps sounded behind them. Harry didn't dare look back. They ran with the injured wizard and had to ignore the screams and cries for help. The clinic needed to be locked up tight and they had to get inside before that happened.

"Get inside! Everybody inside quickly!" A broad shouldered Auror was bellowing from the doorway.

Harry could see he had a makeshift barricade ready and was dragging people inside by the scruff of their necks and throwing them to one side to make room for more. He heard a crunch and a gurgle so close behind them it set his teeth on edge and both he and Ron picked up the pace with their injured companion.

He could hear Ron's ragged breaths and grunts between the pained yelps of the wizard between them. Harry resolved to get them inside safely if it was the last thing he did.

"Take him inside and I'll hold them off!" Harry puffed before ducking out from under the hurt wizard's arm and avoiding the furious silent glare from his best friend.

Harry lunged for the large stick he'd spotted on the ground and swung it before him, knocking the infected shell of a person a full one hundred and eighty degrees around before smashing in the back of his head in the same way he'd seen the woman do earlier on. As he had witnessed, this seemed to stop the Inferi-like pursuer, and unlike what had happened with the woman earlier, the stick put enough distance between him and the blood spatter to keep him safe.

Well...safer.

He turned around and ran for the door just as he saw Ron throw the wounded man inside and turn on his heel to run back out for Harry. He was just about to bellow at his headstrong best friend to stay inside the broad shouldered Auror grabbed Ron by the back of his robes and pulled him backwards. Ron slammed into the wall very hard and Harry winced but knew that it was the right thing to do. He pumped his arms hard and sprinted to the open door.

"Get inside now!" The Auror hollared.

A slightly dazed and utterly miffed Ron shook his head to clear it and pushed himself away from the wall to watch as Harry crossed the threshold and slam into his chest, winding them both.

"Right now get right inside, I'm going to have to re-enforce this door to keep them out once it's closed." The Auror said sharply.

"Not just that," Harry panted while Ron frowned at him with concern and rubbed the back of his own head where he'd banged it against the wall, "blood...if the blood gets on you, or in you...I don't know but I saw a woman get blood in her face and she turned into one of them!"

Ron stared at him worriedly while the Auror clenched his jaw and looked at his barricade.

"And we can't use magic to seal the bloody door," he hissed, "Shit!"

Ron waved a hand out at the approaching mass of wild people, held his palm upright and stroked it downward with the other hand and made a throwing motion.

"Yeah, they'll tear it down in no time," Harry agreed and looked to the Auror.

"What's up with him?" The man frowned at Ron.

"Nothing," Harry said impatiently, "he's a mute. What do we do about them?" Harry pointed to the staggering figures.

There were obviously weapons from the Death Eater attack at the clinic as several loud bangs made them jump and sent the nearest semi naked feral people slamming down onto their backs.

"Somebody tell the Muggle cannon operators to aim for the head!" The Auror bellowed.

"They're called guns," Harry said helpfully.

"Somebody tell the gun cannon operators to aim for the head!" the Auror said impatiently.

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Ron who was shaking his head. He met Harry's gaze with a sight and lifted his thumb and forefinger, almost in a 'C' shape, from waist level up to his cheek. Then he rotated his cupped hands around each other backwards and forwards before waving over his shoulder.

"Yeah, great idea." Harry nodded and turned to address the Auror while Ron turned and set off into the main part of the clinic. "He's going to find us something to secure the door properly."

"Right, well you get inside and warn the others about the infection and tell them there's going to have to be some kind of quarantine area just in case and..."

Somebody charged over the brow of the hill and ran at them screeching in terror. Harry raised his stick and the Auror was ready to slam the door on the man's face when a shot rang out and the man was hit square in the chest, falling to his knees and then flat on his face with a dull thud.

"God no," Harry gasped as he realised the awful truth, "he's not one of them, he's trying to escape them."

Before he knew what he was doing Harry had run out and waved his arms to stop the others from firing.

"He's one of us, hold your fire!" Harry yelled over the gunshots and ran, cowering from the banging all the way over to the man's body.

"Stop firing at our people!" The Auror bellowed up at the windows above where the inexperienced marksmen were stationed, "close and seal all the windows up. We've got some kind of contagious thing turning people into cannibals. Don't leave anything up there open or vulnerable and trust nobody bleeding who came in from the outside. Don't touch anybody who came in with blood on them!"

Harry felt for the man's pulse but there was nothing. The poor soul had been dead before he hit the ground.

There was a deep thud that shook the earth beneath Harry's feet and he looked up to see one of the cloudy eyes, blood salivating, infected people staring at him and breathing heavily between him and the door to the clinic. He looked at the Auror whose face was pained but whose body language told him he was going to have to start barring the door. Harry glanced up at the ledge that he thought the soulless thing had jumped down from and saw the gun wielding Aurors panicking and barricading all the windows while one of their number thrashed around gurgling on a mouth full of blood from his torn throat.

The man's hand clawed at the air to his friends and colleagues but they just kept on building up the wall against the fragile glass windows. Bookcases, filing cabinets, even a shower curtain which Harry guessed was being used to keep out the infection were forced against the weak points in the building while the dying man choked.

There would be nothing anybody could do. Harry just wished he would die sooner rather than later. The shell of a human standing before him began to move forward menacingly, sniffing the air in Harry's direction, and Harry swallowed and backed off. He lifted his stick ready to swing.

"Hey! Hey you there!" The broad shouldered Auror shouted from the open doorway.

The blood drenched figure turned around and made a guttural sound at the back of his throat at the sight of more fresh meat.

"Run, try for the border, you still have the ticket it should get you through. Run boy!" The Auror ordered at the top of his lungs before bracing his shoulder against the door, letting it stay open to try and coax the wild man towards him rather than turning back to Harry, and waited for the milky eyed sub human thing to launch itself at the doorway.

Harry was frozen for a moment. So, it seemed, was the infected man. The three of them stood and stared, Harry at the back of the feral man, the Inferi-like thing at the Auror and the Auror back at Harry.

"I said get running!" The Auror boomed and the sound made the wild man jump and then launch himself at the Auror with a deep wet sounding roar.

Harry jumped too. As the thing set of to attack the clinic Harry turned and ran, sprinting for the checkpoint where the initial attacks had happened. He hoped the bloodthirsty mob weren't still lurking down there, it was his only chance. He ran until his lungs burned in his chest but he still made himself look over his shoulder to make sure the Auror had closed the door in time and that that thing and whatever it was carrying hadn't got into the clinic.

_Into the clinic and trapping Ron, Hermione and Neville._

The animal-like human was pounding on the closed door and Harry felt both relief and adrenaline rushing through his body as he turned back to put everything into his dash for the checkpoint and cross the boarder. He just hoped that none of the infected had tickets to pass through the wards otherwise this would get out of control. He could concentrate on looking after himself now, keeping himself alive, and at least he knew for sure that he didn't have to worry about the others for the time being.

He just willed Ron not to do anything stupid.

* * *

Ron flung open door after door in the supply area and rummaged messily inside each one. There was so much stuff in this clinic he was unfamiliar with, Muggle items and medical things that just weren't necessary in the magical world.

_What the fucking hell is a plaster anyway?_

Ron slammed another door and ripped open another, shocking himself at his strength as the flimsy door flew off its hinges in his hand and crashed to the floor noisily. Ron huffed and looked at the large tin boxes and devices of medieval torture cluttering every shelf and swinging from hooks. He frowned and pulled out one of the big metal boxes by the handle on top. There was a sticky label on top with faded handwriting on it.

_Muggle Tools – For use when you need sticking charms, holes put in things, and broken wooden things mended without magic._

Ron blinked and then looked down at the door lying at his feet. He opened the tool box and pulled out some funny little spikes with a twisty pattern around the sides and thrust them into his pocket before looking at an odd pump thing that said 'sealant' and shoving that under his arm. He kept searching and soon found a hammer and made a silent exclamation of satisfaction. He pushed the handle of the hammer under his belt and bent over to pick up the fallen door from the floor.

As he struggled back out into the narrow hallway, filled with panic stricken people running around like headless hippogriffs, he heard Hermione screeching to him from some way away. He turned and looked over the many bobbing heads. He saw her wild frizzy hair and frantically waving arms as she bounced up and down waving to get his attention.

With an internal growl of frustration he looked down at his heavily laden arms and then back at her and made an attempt to shrug. He couldn't talk and he couldn't sign and she was so far away. He sighed and gave up on reassuring his girlfriend before fighting against the flow of the crowd to get back to the front door and help secure the clinic.

There were grunts and '_oof_'s and '_out of the way_'s but eventually he made it into the empty corridor and paused to get a better grip on the door. He saw some very pale looking Aurors running down the stairs and spreading around the clinic, they were obviously trying to secure the place too, one of them was shaking his head in disbelief and talking to himself.

"But we just left him out there dying, just on the other side of the window, how could we do that?"

"Shut up and set up a fucking quarantine zone!" another Auror slapped him bracingly on the back before looking at Ron and his awkward load and moving forward to take the door from him, "Fantastic! This is to reinforce the front door yes?"

Ron nodded and pulled the sealant out from under his arm and pointed to the writing that said it was water tight.

"Good job there, keep the germs or blood or whatever the hell is doing this out, come on."

The Auror ran with the door and Ron followed behind and soon met a group of Aurors struggling to hold the door closed while more were trying to push the barricade in front of it and make it a little more stable than its present flimsy structure. Ron glanced around for Harry and the broad shouldered Auror but couldn't see them. He assumed they must be behind the wobbling barricade and was in no position to call out to let them know he was back.

"Wait!" the Auror snapped, "You lot keep holding the door closed and me and..." he turned to Ron and waited for him to give him his name, "Well?"

Ron shrugged and pointed to his throat regretfully.

"Shit Jacobs, you bought a patient to help secure the place?" an Auror struggling to hold the door closed hissed.

"He's not a patient, that's Weasley you wanker, look!"

Ron rolled his eyes and threw down the sealant and fumbled inside his pocket for the little spikes.

"You're Potter's mute mate eh?" the Auror Jacobs smiled as he pressed the door against the other, horizontally, "I like someone who doesn't backchat. Get to it son."

Ron pulled the hammer from his belt and began pounding the spikes into the wood of the door and into the doorframe behind. It was slow and knackering work and he wondered how the hell Muggles ever got anything built at this rate. It felt like an age before the snappy little Auror braced his back against the rattling door and looked down at the handful of twisty spikes Ron had in his hand.

"Screws." He said blankly before looking at Ron as if he was a moron, "You're trying to nail screws into the wall you fuckwit! They're called screws for a reason y'know? You're supposed to screw them in."

"Well what was he supposed to use then?" Another Auror pushing his shoulder into the door grunted.

"Nails!" the impatient Auror snapped.

Ron just kept on driving the metal spikes into the door, his arm aching and his sweat drenched fringe getting in his eyes, while Jacobs pulled the sniffy Auror away from the door and took his place.

"Well fuck off and get him some nails then. We're not all Muggle born you know?"

"Where'd ya get th-" the Auror began before his shoulders fell and he realised that even if he could understand sign language Ron was in no position to sign anything at that moment, "Forget it, I'll find the utility room myself."

Ron slammed the head of the hammer against the screw with increasing ferocity, his jaw clenched and lips pulled tight.

"Ignore him son," Jacobs said with a tense smile, "you're doing a bang up job...literally!"

Some fresh faces came running to help and Jacobs demanded that the exhausted team be replaced with fresh muscle. Ron was relieved of his job and he and Auror Jacobs picked up the sealant and began reading the directions on the side so they could set about sealing the crack around the door.

It was as they read that Ron noticed that Harry wasn't appearing from behind the barricade. His heart picked up its pace and Jacobs squeezed his shoulder.

"What's up?"

Ron pointed behind the barricade and then gestured to the empty space beside him, the space that Harry usually filled.

"You want the barricade here instead?" Jacobs frowned.

Ron shook his head and ran his hand through his damp hair before pointing at himself and then forming the outline of another person beside him. He gestured to the phantom Harry he'd just drawn and then put his hand to his heart and shrugged while looking around himself fearfully.

"You had somebody with you?"

Ron's eyes were wide and he nodded frantically.

Jacobs yelled out to the fresh faces who now strained to hold the door closed.

"Anybody know anything about this fella's companion? He was with somebody and he's lost them."

"Sir!" and young Auror waved as he paused from dragging the barricade into place, "I saw them talking to patients earlier, you're looking for the bloke translating for you right? The dark haired guy same age as you?"

Ron nodded hopefully.

"I passed him as I was running down here. He's okay; he's inside with the patients."

Ron let out a deep sigh and smiled at the young man before turning to Jacobs who slapped him on the back and turned his attention back to the tube of sealant.

"Right, let's make sure nothing out there can get inside shall we?"

* * *

Hermione screeched in fury as she saw Ron turn and set off in the opposite direction. Maybe he hadn't seen her.

"Out of my way!" She huffed as she tried to shove her way through the crowd who were all determined to go in the opposite direction.

"Hermione!" Neville called out as he pushed through the crowd, "I've not seen Ron and Harry since they went outside. Have y-"

"Ron's down there somewhere," Hermione was bobbing up and down on tiptoes to see over the heads in the crowd but Ron was long gone, "he didn't see me. I thought he looked at me for a second but he couldn't have. Harry's as short as I am so that might explain why I didn't spot him. He'll be with Ron though."

"What went wrong out there? Some of the patients said people were killed."

Neville hugged Hermione to him and rubbed her back.

"I don't know what's going on but we're all okay aren't we? We're here and Ron and Harry are helping out somewhere else and it's all going to be fine. We've been through worse than this on our slow days haven't we?"

Hermione laughed as she shoved Neville in the chest.

"Well come on then, let's make ourselves useful." She said with a bracing huff.

Most of the patients were beside themselves. Stour was wrestling with a young man in a terrible state. Hermione stepped forward to offer to help when the nurse looked up and nodded behind the two volunteer Healers to the Sapper who was instructing two Aurors how to release a collapsible wall and pull it across the day room to form a quarantine area and an observation area.

"Help Sam, I'm fine here, go on." Stour said as the frantic young man thrashed in her arms.

"Is this completely secure?" Hermione said as she touched the flimsy see through plastic.

"I know it just looks like a big shower curtain right now," Sam smiled, "but when its pulled taught across the room you could run at it and bounce off, believe me on that, I tried it once!"

Neville chortled.

"Like a horizontal trampoline eh?"

"Well I wasn't trying it for fun," Sam said, looking slightly embarrassed, "I was...well it was before Ron came here to work. I was a total loon. They used it to make a temporary padded cell for me until I calmed down."

Hermione felt pride swelling inside her. This articulate, well adjusted and helpful man had once been so hopeless and troubled he had to be locked up for his own protection. Then her Ron came along and talked to him and now he was kind and happy and confident enough to be telling two hardened Aurors that they were '_doing a botch job of_ _it_'.

Ron and Harry would talk about their work but until she had come to the clinic and seen it, seen them in action and see how they'd had such a positive effect on their patients she never realised just how remarkable they had been. While Neville took over from one of the young Aurors, who was being called away to help secure the front door, Hermione glanced around for a shock of red hair. She wanted to see him, her amazing Ron, and give him a hug. She wanted to see him scrunch up his face and twirls his fingers in confusion, asking her what the affection was in aid of, and she wanted to tell him he was brilliant.

He was more than brilliant.

He was dazzling.

"So we stretch it across and fix those pegs around the walls and ceiling through these metal hoops around the edge of the curtain and then take one of those little wheels at either end and wind it, that tightens it up and the pressure seals it all the way around."

"Wow," Neville said, impressed.

"I know," Sam said happily, "not as stupid as they look, Muggles."

Hermione was about to get offended when there was a commotion upstairs and somebody thundered down yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Price got infected, he must've had some blood from warren on his face because he just licked his lips while we were talking and then his eyes went funny and now he's one of them!"

"Fuck!" A Broad shouldered Auror cursed before grabbing a long wooden pole and using it to keep the female Auror at her distance, "Right, sorry about this but you were with him when he turned so you're going to have to stay in quarantine."

"What?" The woman boggled at her superior.

"Do as I say and stay on the quarantined side of the clinic!" the man barked, "In fact, put some protective clothing on and take this," he threw an iron for her to catch, "and smash the back of its head in. Cordon off the rooms the blood fell and make sure to wash all over before coming back down you hear?"

The woman looked thoroughly pissed off but nodded.

"Yes _sir_."

She gripped the iron and pulled a cloak off the cloak stand to shield her from blood spatter before setting off up the stairs. Another Auror, a man in his early forties, grabbed a cloak too and followed her up the stairs.

"I'm with you Kelly, we'll keep downstairs clean at the very least."

Hermione gulped and looked at Neville.

"Ron was on that side when I saw him."

Neville was busy fixing the curtain to the wall and was about to respond to her when she ran for the unsecured corner and flung back the clear rubbery sheet. The burly Auror was there before her however and stepped through to hold her back.

"Nobody goes back into the quarantine area from the clean side young lady."

"The clean side?" Hermione exclaimed, "We were all in the same place three seconds ago, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about segregation," the man said fiercely, "Potter told me himself that the exposure to blood turns the victim into another one of those sub-human things and we've had blood spilled over here, _infected blood!_"

"Harry," Neville called out, "Harry's on that side too?"

"Potter isn't in the building, he made a break for the border, got cut off outside I'm afraid. We had to lock him out."

"You what?" Hermione and Neville exclaimed as one.

"People! Form an orderly and well spaced out queue, nobody close enough to touch the person in front of them, at this partition." The man bellowed out to the people in the quarantined area, ignoring Hermione and Neville's horrified expressions, "I will inspect you and if I deem you clean I will allow you into the clean zone."

"What about Ron?" Hermione asked him, aggravated that he wouldn't look at her, "I saw him in here a little while ago. He didn't get shut out did he? How long ago did this happen?"

"Hermione which way did you say you saw him heading?" Neville said, his face having fallen and paled.

"Down the corridor towards the front d..." Hermione swayed on the spot before shaking her head. "No, he couldn't have gone after him. He wouldn't have been allowed to go back out there once the door was locked." Hermione glared at the large Auror, "Tell me you didn't let him go out after him!"

"He went off looking for some way to secure the door." The man answered Hermione impatiently while a crowd gathered at the gap between the curtain and the wall, "I took charge as the senior Auror on the premises and assigned a team to secure the front door. Jacobs wouldn't have let him leave; I made it clear how dangerous it was outside."

The man turned to roll his eyes and huff at the shambles before him. Nobody was in a line and everybody was pushing and shoving against each other. If there were 'clean' people waiting they could very well have just been rendered unclean by the person next to them shoving past.

"Let me got through to find him," Hermione said as she ducked to move through the opening.

"I said nobody from the clean side goes back into the quarantine area now step away miss." The Auror said with determination.

"It's my choice if I want to go into the quarantine area!" Hermione protested, "My going in there is no risk to anybody."

"It is a risk to yourself!" the man snapped back.

"I don't bloody care!" Hermione snapped back at him, hands balling into tight fists at her sides, "He's a mute, his interpreter just got locked out of the building," Hermione's voice cracked as she spoke of Harry's situation, "and nobody in the quarantine area speaks sign language. I'm going to get him!"

"Phillips, Kenwood, can you do something to calm this woman down please?"

Two Aurors grabbed hold of Hermione and pulled her backwards by the arms. She immediately drove her heel into one man's foot and swung around to punch the other in the nose when her arm was freed by the howling and hopping man.

"Get of me you thugs!"

The immoveable Auror was grabbing at people and scanning them with his eyes while looking through their hair with gloved hands before pulling them through to the safe zone or shoving them back into quarantine and telling them to move aside and not touch any of the others.

"If you are rejected I suggest you at least wash yourselves and remove offending clothing or footwear and desist from touching anybody else and spreading any possible infection."

"So you're going to lock a load of people with a spot of blood on their shoe in there with people who might be genuinely infected and dangerous?" Neville asked, unable to believe the clinical fashion the Auror was turning people away.

"One spot of blood on the lip just killed one of my Aurors so yes lad, I am going to be doing that!" the Auror said as he glared at Neville and pulled a sobbing patient through and turned back to the next person hoping to get to safety.

Hermione was about to barge her way through and into the quarantine area when she saw Ron and several tired looking Aurors jogging into the day room and looking utterly bewildered at the massive partition across the centre of the room.

"Ron!" Hermione called out to him but the curtain was thick and made to be soundproof when pulled taught and the fearful voices of the gathering at the opening drowned her out.

She ran down to an open space at the see through partition and began to wave her arms frantically. An Auror looked at her as if she was bonkers and then nudged Ron whose eyes almost bulged out of his head to see his girlfriend looking so franticly animated. He wove through the crowd and over to Hermione, twirling his fingers on either side of his head immediately.

"The clinic's being split into two zones, safe and high risk, and we need to get you on this side."

Ron frowned and pointed at his ears with a shrug. Hermione huffed, he couldn't hear her, she was far too muffled. She lifted her hands and began to sign to him.

"Oi!" the broad-chested Auror called through the gap to Ron.

Ron's face broke into a smile and he waved at the man, clearly recognising him from the front door. Hermione's heart sank. Ron couldn't have known that between them they'd managed to lock Harry out with the murderous infected wild people. She bit her lip and turned to see the man looking from Ron to her and back again.

"Let's get your through son," he beckoned Ron over to him, much to the annoyance of the people ahead of him in the mass gathering at the gap in the curtain, "you helped secure the place and besides, your wife is pissing me off."

Hermione wanted to hit him but Ron laughed and made his way through the crowd to get inspected for traces of blood. It was a quick examination and there was some muttering about a bump on Ron's head but the Auror smiled at that and made some comment about it having hurt the wall more. Sam, the Sapper, was at her side now and he gave her a nudge and a smile as Ron was allowed through to the safe zone and quickly signed a quick hello to Neville as he passed him.

"He's always in bother but he's always coming out of it clean eh?" Sam chuckled.

Hermione ran her hand through her wild hair and sighed.

"Yes," she dreaded having to tell him about Harry but knew she'd have to keep the news from him until she could be sure there was no way he could go charging off after his best friend.

Ron heaved a deep exhalation as his shoulders fell and he pulled her into his arms. She hugged him back.

"No wonder you're always tired when you come home from work." Hermione said, muffled, into his chest.

She felt him laughing and clung even tighter. He leaned away from her and she gave a quick squeeze before letting him go to sign. He held his hand palm up and moved it in circles before wiping one hand over the other and shrugging.

"Harry's..." she began before glancing at Neville anxiously.

"All right you lot, this is for safety's sake, if I say you're not coming through then you move back!" the Auror was shouting.

Ron looked over his shoulder at the man and then to the worried looking crowds sympathetically.

"Healer Granger, we've a problem with a hyperventilating patient, would you be able to help us?" Nurse Stour asked, breathless and flustered.

"Of course," Hermione nodded, "Ron I'm just going to..."

Ron nodded to let her know he overheard and jogged over to crouch beside Neville. She hoped Neville didn't worry Ron about Harry and put him in a state.

She was led through to one of the bedrooms where a round faced witch was gasping for breath and shaking all over. Hermione looked around and found a bag of grapes sitting on the small table the wireless sat upon. She emptied out the grapes and dropped to her knees before the woman who was going red in the face now.

"Breathe into this," she instructed as he helped the frightened witch hold the bag to her mouth, "breathe in...and then blow out so it fills the bag...that's it, now in and out steady enough to fill and empty the bag with a nice rhythm."

Nurse Stour placed a hand on Hermione's back and mouthed a silent thank you to her. She smiled back at the stressed matron of the magic free hospital for patients used to magical treatments and turned back to the trembling witch and let her hold the bag to her mouth with her shaking hands.

"There you go, that's better, you're doing very well."

The witch's eyes watered as she smiled. Hermione got back to her feet and brushed herself down before stepping out of the room and heading back to the day room to speak to Ron. She saw Sam and Neville at either end of the transparent sheet of thick rubbery plastic, on their knees and turning the little wheels to tighten the curtain and seal the edges. The people on the other side were looking as if they'd just been condemned to death and the broad-chested Auror was giving orders to the Ministry witches and wizards on his side of the partition.

She made her way across the room and reached Neville just as he had turned his wheel all the way and locked it in place.

"Ron get called to a patient too?" she asked, rubbing her eyes tiredly before looking at Neville's face properly.

That was when she knew.

"Um...Hermio-" Neville was cut off before he began.

"Did you tell him about Harry?"

"No," Neville shook his head.

Hermione glanced around herself, Ron wasn't anywhere to be seen, and she turned back to Neville fiercely.

"So where is he?"

"He...he...went back through to the quarantined side and got, kind of, shut in."

"_Why did he go back through?"_ Hermione screeched, looking through the clear tight sheet of rubber, almost like flexible glass now it was pulled so taught.

"He forgot something." Neville cringed, looking both guilty and fearful.

Hermione's eyes widened and she shook her head slowly.

"No," she said with as much restraint as she could muster, "don't tell me that. Don't tell me Neville. Do not tell me he went back for that bloody dog."

Neville swallowed and looked through the partition, his shoulders falling, and his arm twitched to point at something.

Turning her head and looking down at the same spot Neville was, she saw a copper haired Retriever sitting before the smooth partition, happily wagging its tail and steaming up the surface with his panting breaths, and behind him the long legs and apologetic slouch of his equally copper haired master.

Ron's head was bowed and he peered up at her through his fringe apprehensively.

Her jaw clenched and her gaze was furious as she pointed at herself, then moved her arm with three fingers extended down at a right angle to her body, and then moved her index finger from her neck outwards before splaying her fingers palm down and pointed at Ron.

_I'm going to kill you!_


	7. Inside, Outside and In between

_A/N My poor beta Natz has been very ill so all mistakes in this chapter are all my fault._

_GET WELL SOON NATZ!_

**Inside, Outside and In-between**

Harry was sprinting. Every part of him hurt. His lungs, his arms, his legs and his heart felt as if it was about to burst through his chest. He had his ticket to pass through the barrier, there had been no infected people lurking around the checkpoint, he was going to make it.

He was going to be able to get help.

_Whump!_

Harry slammed into the magical barrier at full speed and staggered in a daze before slamming down onto his back. He was winded and confused and spots moved slowly before his eyes. He gasped for air and rolled onto his side to start choking. What the hell had hit him?

He looked around; vision swimming and head feeling as if it had been scrambled, but he didn't see anyone or anything. He frowned and shook his head in an attempt to clear it. Glancing back at the barrier that kept magic out of the non-magical zone and lifted his shaking hand.

He pushed against it and felt the barrier holding firm. He blinked and fumbled for his ticket, the ticket he received when he checked his wand in and passed through the barrier.

Again, he pushed against the barrier with his shoulder and it was as solid as stone. He realised that whoever had managed to escape the attack had sealed the magical barrier so infected people with a ticket couldn't pass through.

He was stuck there.

He was stuck with the bloodthirsty savages who tore into people as if they were roast chicken on the bone.

He was stuck out in the open with them.

Harry's hand moved to his head and he rubbed his temple roughly before passing his fingers through his untidy hair. He needed to find cover. He tried to think like Ron. He'd need cover and a weapon that didn't involve close contact with the infected and he would probably be better off if he kept above ground level.

He looked to the woods surrounding the clinic.

"I can climb a tree right?"

* * *

She sat, cross-legged, with her knees pressed up against the clear partition. She looked through at Ron who still adopted the apologetic hunch and lowered head of the boyfriend in the doghouse. 

The doghouse, she snorted at the thought as she looked at Marmalade. The dog had never left Ron's side since they had been reunited and was now sleeping happily, his head in Ron's lap. It made her furious to think about what Ron had risked to go back for him but it also warmed her heart.

He wouldn't have been her Ron had he left the animal behind.

Her immediate reaction to their enforced separation had been to demand Ron be allowed back through.

'_But you cleared him yourself!'_ she had fumed at the brad chested Auror while Neville alternated between trying to calm her down and cowering from her wrath should she suddenly remember who introduced Harry to the idea of getting Ron a dog at all.

'_Healer Granger I cleared him before he ran deep into the quarantine zone and released an animal amongst the high risk people in that area. I've no option but to isolate him now.'_

'_Isolate him? Isolate him!' _Hermione had screeched, "_Don't you think he's isolated enough as it is? Nobody in there but the stupid dog can understand him!'_

'_Special circumstances or not, I have a responsibility to minimise the risk of this thing spreading and a duty to ensure everybody on the clean side stay clean!'_

'_Well let me go through to him then,' _she had offered by way of compromise, _'I take full responsibility for myself as a Healer and a witch of sound body and mind.'_

'_That's a matter of opinion.' _The Auror muttered under his breath.

'_Let me through. He needs me!'_

'_Hermione, no!' _Neville grabbed her arm and dragged her away, _'You know Ron doesn't want that.'_

'_Bugger what Ron wants!' _Hermione shouted before looking through the partition at her boyfriend and feeling awful as she realised he had read her lips.

Ron crossed his arms before him and pulled them apart sharply with a shake of the head. His thumb made a small downward movement against his chest before putting a fisted right hand into his left and pulling his arms towards his body.

'_I know you don't need help, believe me, but I need to be with you.'_

Hermione had been speaking so fast that Ron lost her half way into her sentence and she had to sign to him as well as vent her frustrations verbally.

She tapped herself on the chest and shook her head sadly, moving her index finger from her nose, across and forward. Then she curled her hands so her knuckles were together and pulled her hands apart from each other. Her hand pressed against her chest and then she dragged her fingers down her face, drawing invisible tears from her eyes.

'_I can't be separated from you. I love you, it hurts.'_

Ron stared at her, his blue eyes intense, before moving his hand in a small circle before him and wipingone palm across the other. Hermione and Neville shared a look. Neville bit his lip and stepped forward nervously. Hermione put her hand on his shoulder and held him back.

She had to be the one to tell Ron about Harry.

Soon it was Ron's turn to rant at an Auror. Unfortunately he was unable to explain why he wanted to go upstairs and pull a board free from on of the windows to see if Harry was alright, if he needed help.

The Aurors stuck in the quarantine area kept grabbing at Ron's arms as he tried to sign, instinctively protecting themselves from what looked like threatening behaviour. This caused Marmalade to butt in with snarls and shoves.

At least Marmalade's issues with people getting physical with Ron weren't exclusive to her, she thought. Ron had been shouted at and shoved away. Marmalade had lunged for one of the Aurors arms and something had obviously been said that made Ron pale because he grabbed his dog by the collar and pulled him away.

Hermione and Neville had tried to talk to him but Ron wouldn't look at them. The barrier was practically sound proof so they had to resort to sign language too – an impossibility when the person you're trying to communicate with is glowering at somebody else across the room.

The breakthrough had come about because of Sam.

The Magic Sapper had come over to the partition and waved to get Ron's attention. Ron gave it immediately, always there when it came to his patients after all, and Hermione had translated a short conversation between them which involved Ron reassuring Sam that he had faith in him to hold it together enough to help the patients he was stuck with in the safe zone.

Sam had replied that he knew Ron would be of help to the people stuck in Quarantine. Ron had slumped and signed something about being useless to them without Harry and Neville had slammed his hand upon the partition and scolded Ron for his negative attitude.

Then Neville said something that got Ron to lift his head again.

'_Don't you have whole conversations with Jess without Harry around? And she's blind; you've got it easy with this lot!'_

Ron had laughed at this before apologising to them all. He sank down into a sitting position and ran his long expressive fingers through Marmalade's fur thoughtfully. Hermione sat opposite him and waited for him to process everything. She wished she'd been allowed to go through to be with him. Yes there were risks but she'd risk anything to hold him and whisper reassurances in his ear.

Their eyes met and Hermione shook her head, moving her hand slightly forward from the side of her nose.

Ron sighed and leaned forward to rest his forehead against the barrier at her begging him not to be sad. She pushed her hand against the clear barrier between his bright hair and felt a little warmth. Marmalade picked up on his master's unhappiness immediately and shuffled under one of Ron's arms to give him something to hug. For the first time in months Hermione wasn't jealous of the dog. She was grateful that there was affection and reassurance and loyalty on the other side of the barrier for him.

It just hurt that it couldn't be her.

Ron moved his index finger from his nose, across and forward before putting his fingertips together and then flinging his hands apart and gesturing over his shoulder.

"No Ron," Hermione blurted before signing back to him as she continued; "you didn't leave him."

Ron huffed so hard that he steamed up the clear partition. He mimed turning a key and flung his arm toward the barricaded door hopelessly. He was blaming himself for locking Harry out.

"You have to stop doing this to yourself love," Hermione's heart ached for her boyfriend and with worry for their best friend, "you didn't know he was still out there and he would have been furious with you if you had gone after him."

Ron's eyes darkened with anger. He slid his palm over the other and moved both his hands forward, one behind the other, in a pointing motion before slamming himself in the chest angrily.

He was right, Harry would have followed him. Harry followed Ron everywhere and had suffered all sorts of trials and torture to keep him safe. Ron not helping Harry when he needed it only served to make him feel that he was useless on his own. Ron hadn't become dependant on Harry, or any translator at all, but now that his segregation from everybody who could communicate with him had made him feel so very different from everybody else he was feeling useless.

Hermione pointed her hands past her head behind her.

"I understand," she spoke softly and bit her lip as Ron's head dropped.

She watched as he stroked Marmalade's fur and the dog leaned into his side, still seeming to sense his master's unhappiness and wanting to remind him he was still there for him. Ron held his hand sideways with his thumb touching his chest, moving it away and forward, and then he put his index fingers together and moved his right finger forwards against his left. Ron put a flat hand beneath his fist and mimed lifting it as if it was heavy.

"Ron there's nothing we can do to help Harry."

Ron lifted his head and his hands moved sharply and angrily. He pounded himself on the chest and then rubbed is knuckles together. He bunched his fists together and then splayed his fingers downwards.

_He's my brother and I lost him._

* * *

Harry's hands were riddled with splinters and grazes from his struggle up the tree he had chosen on the edge of the woods. He wanted to get far enough into the canopy of leaves to remain hidden but stay as near to the open as possible to be able to keep a look out and watch the border for activity. 

He hoped to be able to jump down and sprint for the border as soon as Aurors showed up to control the situation. The one negative thing was he had no view of the clinic at all. Pulling splinters from his fingers with his teeth he assured himself that everybody inside would have done a good enough job of securing the clinic from the infected.

They didn't appear to be specifically targeting the building, on the contrary, they were more interested in anything that moved and had a pulse. Harry spat out a splinter and hissed in discomfort before frowning as he remembered one of Dudley's videos. He was never allowed to enjoy Dudders video library but the spoiled brat liked to watch them with the volume turned up full blast.

Harry had liked Jurassic Park quite a lot because he could lie back out of sight and imagine the dinosaurs to go with the impressive sound effects. He recalled now, perched in his tree, the part in the film where the scientist with the unplaceable accent said that if you didn't move a T-rex couldn't see you.

Harry didn't fancy testing whether the infected could see him if he stood perfectly still though. He'd take a chance and leg it instead.

His clothes were filthy from the climb. He really didn't have tree climbing experience in his childhood. If he needed to crawl into a very tight space he could do that but he didn't think that would be wise. You can get cornered in tight spaces. He sighed and looked around himself at the branches of the tree.

"And this is just easy as pie to escape from at short notice isn't it?" he mumbled.

He wondered if she should aim to get back to the clinic and hope that they let him back in once he proved he was uninfected or if he should get as far away from the clinic as possible to draw attention away from the people trapped inside.

Ron, Hermione, Neville and the others couldn't floo, Disapparate or Portkey out of there and nobody could get to them that way either. If the clinic found itself under siege there was no way out. Harry looked back out to the non-magical/magical border and frowned. If he set off in the opposite direction to the clinic, kept his ticket on him and followed the border all the way down into the thick of the woods then he at least had places to run, hide and a hope of getting through the barrier when the external block was lifted.

He decided; he'd stay away from the clinic.

Looking up at the darkening sky he saw a squirrel and watched as it froze and stared back at him. Harry smiled before squinting and taking a better look at the squirrel. It was one of the rare red squirrels he had thought, a protected species, but on closer inspection he realised that it was a very dirty grey one.

"What are you covered in?" Harry muttered as he changed position in the branches of the tree to get a better look.

The squirrel darted forward and took a running jump at his face. Harry ducked, more that used to avoiding bludgers on the Quidditch pitch to have slow reactions, and the animal zoomed over him and slammed into a thick branch with a thud. Harry turned around awkwardly and saw that the squirrel didn't even appear dazed. It was closer now and he could see the cloudy white eyes and the blood caked fur.

"Oh shit!"

The squirrel was infected.

How they hell was he going to stay clean if the wildlife was spreading the infection to each other too? Could flies get it? Gnats? Harry felt his insides freeze. That barrier could never be taken down. The Aurors would never be able to contain this epidemic. Harry was on his own in this thing.

Well not quite on his own.

The squirrel screeched and ran along the branch towards him again, mouth open wide and frighteningly long teeth bared.

"Sod off Nutkin!" Harry growled as he kicked the tree rat away, "I did not defeat Lord Voldemort to be killed by a zombie squirrel!"

The squirrel fell and bounced from branch to branch until it dropped to the ground, cushioned by fallen leaves. Harry knew he needed to finish the thing off and clambered down after it while it flailed around on broken legs and swung down to drop heavily on the forest floor. Just as the squirrel looked up with its milky eyes hissed Harry brought his foot down on its tiny head and killed it.

He made sure to kill it a few move times before backing away and wiping the blood off his shoe using a moss covered tree stump.

"All this infected blood everywhere," he said to himself, "there's no way to control it other than to let it run its course and let every living this die of starvation."

The people in the clinic wouldn't last that long and Harry definitely wouldn't.

* * *

_A/N Yes, another one!_

_If you're interested in hearing me yammer on like a twat then I have been interviewed for a Podcast! If you wana hear it there's links to the different places you can get it on my profile. (I was a bit nervous at the beginning but I chill out after a while...that's what my Steppy-sister says anyway!)_


	8. Divide and Conquer

**Divide and Conquer**

Two Aurors came downstairs from the quarantined side of the clinic and sealed off the staircase as a hazardous area. Ron was translating for Hermione, who told the Aurors on her side what was going on.

Of all the things they could have said about Ron in this situation, useless was not one of them. He was their only means of communication that didn't involve scribbling on paper and squinting at undecipherable handwriting.

Everybody was inspected behind a makeshift screen to be sure they didn't have any blood on them. Marmalade was examined too, Ron had to order him to behave as he was still tightly wound from sensing Ron's frustration and seeing Ron getting man-handled earlier on, but the dog was clean and soon everybody on the quarantined side had washed and changed into spare clothes before being ordered to stay away from the second floor and the stairs altogether.

Hermione sat before the partition and watched, mesmerised, as Ron removed his sweatshirt and threw it into the large bag with the other items of clothing to be incinerated just to be safe. Ron pulled the t shirt that was clearly too small for him over his head and glanced at her a little self consciously before folding his arms.

Hermione put her hand to her heart and then pointed at Ron's body. Ron cocked an eyebrow and smirked. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

"I didn't say I loved it because it was tight!" she huffed while he sat down before her and silently chuckled.

Marmalade bumped his head under Ron's arm and then nestled into his side as he sat down, his master's arm slung over his fury body. Ron began running his fingers through the shaggy hair while watching Hermione through the clear barrier. She tried to wipe the sad look off her face but soon Ron's shoulders fell as well and he gestured around himself and crossed his wrists over each other.

"No," Hermione spoke and began to sign with a shake of the head, "you're not in prison. You're safe and that's what I want for you."

Ron sighed and looked around at some of the others in the Quarantine area. The Aurors were all sticking together and muttering about how to deal with the civilians. The people who worked at the clinic were sticking together and whispering about how to deal with the patients. The patients were huddled together not talking at all, Ron smiled sadly at them and waved. A tearful looking witch waved back before hugging her arms to herself.

Ron turned back to face her and spread his fingers and touched fingertips together before patting himself on the chest and gesturing with both hands to his shoulder as if placing a heavy weight upon it.

"You'll do brilliantly Ron; you'll handle the responsibility fantastically." Hermione said confidently, signing with conviction to make her tone clear, "they trust you to look out for them."

Ron looked doubtful before waving his hand over his shoulder in their direction and shaking his head as he pointed behind him and tapping himself on the chest again.

"I bet they do understand you love," Hermione said confidently, "try now; ask that woman if she's all right."

Ron winced and rolled his eyes but didn't argue with her. He shifted around on the floor, causing Marmalade to topple over as the body he had been leaning against was suddenly turned away from him and making Hermione snort quietly, and he waved to get the witch's attention again. The woman looked up and the rest of the patients watched too as Ron pointed to her and then put his thumb up while tilting his head and shrugging.

The woman threw her hands around half heartedly to indicate her surroundings and the situation before smiling and nodding. Ron raised his hands and paused for a moment, Hermione guessed that he was thinking of signs that people who didn't speak sign language would understand, before pointing at the small group and making a powerful gesture with his fists.

The witch laughed and a couple of the other patients smiled sadly. Marmalade settled down on the floor beside Ron and rested his head in his master's lap. The rich brown eyes blinked at Hermione before they closed and the dog had a peaceful doze.

Ron turned back to her and stared for a moment before leaning forward and resting his forehead against the partition and closing his eyes with a heavy sigh. Hermione bit hr lip and mirrored his movement, lifting her hand to press against the firm clear sheeting. Ron seemed to know what she'd done and did the same, their hands pressed against each other but separated by the thin yet strong barrier.

On Hermione's side she could hear the Aurors trying to work out a way to contact the magical world by phone when none of them had used one before. Nurse Stour was helping them so Hermione didn't intervene. She didn't think she could tear herself away from Ron anyway if she was honest with herself. She needed to be near to him, to see and feel that he was safe, he was with her, and she had to keep him from doing something stupid or dangerous.

It terrified her that he was going to risk his life to go to Harry.

"Hermione?"

Neville's voice made her jump and she looked up at him over her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern for her as she glanced back to Ron on the other side of the barrier, looking up at Neville and blinking.

"Has anyone said how long this quarantine will last yet?" Hermione asked him desperately.

"We don't know what this infection is, how long it lasts, symptoms, incubation period..." Neville was listing everything they were up against hopelessly.

There was a sound like a deep '_boing_' and Hermione turned to see that Ron had banged his palm flat against the taught surface as if it was a drum. Ron waggled his index finger from side to side while frowning. He was trying to find out what they were talking about.

Hermione narrowed her eyes for a moment before pointing from her eye forward putting her hand against her breast bone and lifting it upwards to her throat. She touched her forehead quickly and then bought her upright index finger down and swept it around as if gesturing to a crowd of people and counting heads.

"What does Ron seeing the infected people have to do wi-" Neville began to ask but Hermione shushed him, a pointless thing to do seeing as Ron was responding with sign language but he stopped talking all the same.

Ron pointed from his eye forwards and stroked his chin with his hand. He pointed at his head and squinted before pointing both index and middle fingers forward and dropping them down to waist height.

"You saw a man you _think_ was dead?" Hermione furrowed her brow.

Ron threw his hands before him and shrugged. None of this made sense anyway, there was no point looking for clarity.

"Go on," Neville spoke as he waved his hand encouragingly.

Ron's index finger and thumb snapped apart as his hand moved across his face to point away to the side.

"What's strange?" Hermione asked as she twirled her fingers on either side of her head.

Ron's left hand splayed, facing downwards His right index finger touched his chin then moved down before splaying his fingers before the other hand. He bought his hand to his right temple as if he had a headache while looking worried.

"Well we already know the blood is dangerous," Neville said as he ran his hand through his brown hair with a sigh.

"Ron," Hermione began to sign as she spoke, "did you see someone getting infected?"

Ron nodded.

Neville crouched down beside Hermione and interlocked his fingers twice in quick succession.

"How?" he asked aloud too.

An Auror and Nurse Stour were joining them now, intrigued to know what Ron had seen. Hermione noticed that the Aurors on Ron's side of the partition who couldn't hear the translations were looking curious yet annoyed that they were being left out of the loop.

Ron stroked his chin again, touched his neck with his index finger and then moved it outwards and down while splaying his fingers as if demonstrating something pouring down from his throat. Ron touched his open hands together, then moved them away, pointed to his lip and then stroked his right hand down over the top of the left in a flowing movement.

"When the man died there was lots of blood," Neville translated while Hermione maintained eye contact with Ron for reassurance.

Ron pointed his index and middle fingers downwards before making a fist and pointing his finger down inside it.

"He was dead inside..."

Ron shook his head and looked confused and concerned as he made a small downward movement against his chest.

"...but he was still alive."

"He was infected from the bite?" Stour asked.

Hermione asked Ron the question and he nodded.

"So does that mean it's not airborne then?" one of the Aurors muttered.

Hermione caught Ron's attention again and fanned her face before pointing from her mouth downwards. Ron' eyes widened and he made the fanning gesture too before giving a thumbs up. He immediately mimicked the sign for swallowing and then dragged his little fingers down his chest and shook his head sombrely.

"You can't breathe it in," Neville began to speak Ron's silent words to the Auror, "but if you swallow it...If you swallow the blood you get ill."

"How fast?" Nurse Stour asked urgently.

Ron had read her lips and clinked his fingers in front of him.

"Instantaneously?" She said in alarm.

"Oh God," Hermione gasped, thinking of Harry's chances out there alone and how dangerous it was for Ron to be on the side of the clinic blood had been spilled.

She pointed at Marmalade and fiercely before making a sharp move from her eye to the dog and then pointing around herself wildly. Ron rolled his eyes and ruffled the dog's fur. Hermione hit the barrier with her fist angrily and Ron raised both his hands in mock surrender.

"What's that about?" The Auror frowned.

"She's telling him to keep a close eye on the dog at all times." Neville said uncomfortably, "She's worried that the dog could get infected and attack him."

"Well let's be fair, that is likely," the Auror grunted, "can you tell him to lock it up in a secure room for the duration?"

"He won't," Hermione and Neville replied as one.

"I have to agree," Stour nodded with a weary sigh, "if you want to lock his dog away he'll insist on being locked up with it and then we lose our best communicator and the patients on that side lose the only person who can calm them down."

"Did you just call the dumb guy your best communicator?" another Auror said cynically.

Neville looked livid and sprang forward, Stour clutching at handfuls of his Healer robes to hold him back.

"He's been more help than you have you ignorant bloody..."

"Healer Longbottom hold your tongue and you sir," Stour turned on the surly Auror, "if you don't watch your mouth I'll hold your tongue for you...with blunt medical equipment!"

"And don't you ever call him dumb," Hermione scowled from the floor before turning back to smile at Ron and sign to him that everything was okay.

Ron could always tell when he'd been insulted, even if he'd missed it, because of the reaction of his friends and family but especially the reaction it would bring out in Hermione. He shook his head and moved his hand forward from his nose. Ron gestured to the man Neville was glaring at and moved his index finger across his face while curling and straightening it like a wriggly worm and then dragging his hand from waist to armpit and shrugging.

"What's he saying now?" the Auror demanded.

Hermione smiled proudly before turning to look up at them all.

"He said I wasn't to get upset over his silly crap," Hermione fixed her eyes on the insolent Auror as she spoke.

Neville snorted and turned his back on the Aurors to squat down before Ron and wink at him. Ron smirked and held his index and middle fingers clawed into each other and moved his hands up and down alternately.

"I won't bother arguing with them mate, don't worry," Neville chuckled before waving a dismissive hand over his shoulder.

Neville pointed upwards with his little finger and then touched his face with his palm and turned it outwards to push away from his face.

"They've got a bad attitude." The red faced Healer said just loud enough for the group to hear him.

* * *

It had started raining and Harry had been running for ages, his muscles burned and his breath was short. There didn't seem to be anybody around and the animals were sheltering from the rain so no squirrel attacks seemed imminent.

He looked at his filthy hands and bloodied trainers and knew what he had to do. He had to get clean.

Double-checking his surroundings before stepping out into a small clearing so the rain fell heavily upon him, Harry began to strip to the waist and rub the dried blood off his arms and hands frantically. He tried to convince himself that he was still okay, that the others had changed immediately and he was still himself so he couldn't have been infected, but the cold rain sent shivers through him and his skin paled to the colour of death.

He had to keep away from the clinic. If he was about to change into one of those things he wanted to be as far away from Ron, Hermione, Neville and all the patients as possible. He forced his lips tightly shut and scrubbed at his face and through his hair before spitting to the ground and contorting his arms in an attempt to wash his back.

Harry picked up his t shirt and examined it for blood stains. It just seemed to be dirty. He lifted up his jumper and saw it was spattered with blood from the squirrel. He threw the jumper aside and pulled on the t shirt before looking at his wet trainers and rubbing them against the wet grass. He noticed a puddle forming and plunged two-footed into it, splashing around as much as he could until his trainers were soaked through but blood free.

He heard a snapping sound behind him, like twigs breaking, and held his breath for a second before breaking into a sprint in the opposite direction. He needed shelter, he needed a hiding place, and he needed it to be secure.

The sky darkened and the rain pelted down even harder.


	9. The Space Between

**The Space Between**

It was raining outside and night had fallen. The broad chested Auror had been on the phone and shouting quite a lot. Apparently the department were going to secure the borders but not send anybody inside until they knew for sure what they were dealing with.

They had been told to sit tight and maintain the quarantine area of the clinic. Nobody was coming in, nobody could go out, and there was still no word about the magical wards coming down so they could Apparate people out of there. Apparently a non-magical zone couldn't be made magical again with a simple flick of the wand.

With much cajoling Neville had finally managed to get word to Hermione's parents to reassure them that everything was okay and ask them to pass the news on to the Weasleys. He'd also asked them to ask George if he would mind taking care of Jess while he was gone. He'd never left her alone all night since they had moved in together and he couldn't help but fret.

When Hermione's parents had asked to speak with her it had to be explained that the phone line needed to be free and that Hermione wasn't prepared to leave Ron's side in any case. Neville sat on a squidgy armchair in the safe half of the day room and sipped at his cup of tea while watching his two school friends' painfully tender display on either side of the clear plastic barrier.

It started when the conversation petered out. After an hour or two of signing to each other they sat and stared into the other's eyes. The back of Hermione's hand was stroking against the smooth partition and Ron's long fingers idly traced the shape of her hand, wrist, arm, elbow and glided downwards along with his eyes. Hermione shivered as if she had been able to feel his touch and Neville suddenly felt intrusive watching them.

He missed Jess and was worried about Harry, but there was something reassuring about watching his two segregated friends communicating on such a heightened level. They leaned against the far wall, side by side, and rested their heads against each other. Things had been tense between the two of them and Neville did feel partly responsible. For all the consideration he had shown Ron he didn't really show enough to Hermione.

She had lost her privacy and intimacy with her boyfriend to a dog, the dog Neville had inspired Harry to buy, and the dog that caused Ron and Hermione's separation in the first place. He should have made sure Hermione was a 'doggy' person before making arrangements for Marmalade's training.

The thing was Hermione was Neville's bossy and overworked colleague at St Mungo's and Ron was the first person who had faith in Neville to stand up for himself and hold his head high. In a way Ron and Neville had a special bond. Neville had saved Ron's life and Ron had helped his parents learn to communicate again. Ron needed saving and was able to work with Neville's parents because he was a mute.

Neville would never say it but he loved Ron that way.

It sounded terrible but it was true. Ron grew stronger and more confident in himself and what he could do. He seemed willing to work hard and fight harder to get what he wanted, whereas before his confidence would always lose out to his paranoia.

Ron was a respected therapist. Ron could speak another language. Ron was gifted at non-verbal magic. Would he have even believed he had it in him to strive for one of those things before he woke up in that hospital bed lost for words?

Hermione was still Hermione. Nothing had changed other than her ability to swear more readily, always claiming she was doing it for Ron, and the fact that her fuse was now just as short as a Weasley.If anybody ever put a toe out of line as far as Ron was concerned she would have their guts for garters. Harry had confessed that the closer Ron and Hermione got to becoming a couple the more extreme Hermione's temper had become. She would still fly off the handle but in sneaky ways like hexing Quidditch rivals and setting ferocious birds on Ron when he upset her...but only in front of Harry in a secluded classroom.

She liked to have more work on her hands than she could handle, she liked to juggle, but she always wanted to be in control of things. Ron was a hard one to control at the best of times but in these circumstances...she'd lost all control and could now only watch helplessly. More fool the person on her side of the barrier who needled her brittle temper.

He could see in the way she leaned against the partition how much she wanted to just force her way through to Ron and keep him from doing something silly. He could see in the way Ron kept sighing heavily and glancing over his shoulder to the Aurors and past them to the door he'd helped secure that Harry was never far from his thoughts. The fact that Harry would have torn down the walls to go after Ron was playing on everyone's minds, so was the fact that Harry would tear Ron a brand new arsehole if he did the same thing to come after him.

The conflict inside Ron was so clear for all to see and so terrifying for Neville and Hermione especially. She was close enough to leave a layer of fog on the clear partition between them but there was nothing she could do to physically reach out for him and keep him with her – keep him safe.

Ron turned his head back towards her and smiled very slightly, knowing she must need reassurance his stupid side wasn't about to overwhelm him and take control of the thinking side of things. Hermione had already told Ron over and over that Harry was going to be alright and now she didn't even have to begin to sign for him to nod to her to let her know he was still thinking about what she had said.

Again they stroked their knuckles against the tight plastic sheeting as if it was a thin layer of loose gauze separating them and it would give way and let them caress the other's skin.

"All my years and I'm still waiting for somebody to look at me the way he's looking at her." Stour said as she took a seat beside Neville and offered him a cigarette.

Neville shook his head and kept his eyes on his two friends.

"Jess won't ever look at me like that either and I still know she loves me." Neville shrugged before turning to smile up at the nurse over his shoulder, "See, looks aren't everything!"

Nurse Stour chuckled and Neville turned back to the separated couple.

"He's going to snap isn't he?" Neville asked sadly.

"Eventually, yes," Stour said with a weighty sigh. "His head lowers and he gets a crinkle between his eyebrows when he's really dwelling on something."

"D'you think I should tell the Aurors to be on their toes?"

"They know," Stour said moodily, "I've been watching then dealing with my patients and the whole time they were doing that they never took their eyes off him."

"Maybe they were looking at the dog?" Neville speculated half-heartedly.

"Maybe." Stour said, sounding about as convinced as Neville was.

Suddenly Ron got to his feet and looked thoroughly restless. Hermione got up too and pressed her palms against the barrier worriedly. Ron frowned and scratched the back of his head before bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet and beginning to pace up and down a few short feet in either direction.

"Ron what is it?" Hermione was asking frantically, "You said you weren't going to do anything silly, you _promised!_"

Ron stopped before her and rubbed his hands against his face roughly before shaking out his arms and legs like he did before a Quidditch match or an impromptu wrestle with Harry.

Ron shook his head and bit his lip before shrugging and faking a yawn.

"You're bored?"

Ron seemed to squirm uncomfortably before leaning in close and jabbing his thumb into his other palm and nodding downwards. Hermione's eyes widened and she jumped back with an 'Oh!'.

Neville clamped his hand over his mouth to stifle the massive snort he just let out and Stour looked at him with bulging eyes.

"What? What did he just say?"

Neville began to jabber incoherently. How on earth was he supposed to explain to Ron's boss that her star therapist just had to stand up and start doing callisthenics because he's suddenly got a stiffy?

One of the Aurors, a woman Neville thought was called Kelly, made her way over to Ron cautiously. Ron rolled his eyes and slumped against the wall, unable and unwilling to explain his embarrassment. Auror Kelly looked through the partition at Hermione with a quizzical frown. Hermione thought fast and mouthed the word 'toilet' to the woman.

"Oh," Stour said, making Neville jump, "he needs to go to the loo!"

"Yeah," Neville nodded before mumbling, "you could put it that way."

Auror Jacobs was shouting something to the group in the corner before tying a handkerchief over his face and venturing into one of the bathrooms on the quarantined side of the clinic to make sure there was nothing to catch the infection from. Ron was beginning to blush furiously and Neville figured that for that to be happening the blood had to have left the part of his body that was causing him inconvenience.

He crossed the room very self-consciously and went in and out in record time. Neville guessed that Ron didn't want Hermione to think he was up to anything in there. As the redhead made his way back to his spot, grinning sheepishly, one of his patients approached him and tugged on his arm. Ron listened to them for a moment before giving them a one-armed hug and rubbing their back.

Then he did something beautiful. He stepped in front of them and mimed lifting something heavy from the young man's shoulders and throwing it down to the floor. He smiled at the troubled wizard and shook out his arms before encouraging the patient to do the same. The man chuckled and shook out the tension from his body before smiling.

Ron pointed at the man and made small circular movements in front of him with upturned palms. The patient frowned. Hermione waved from the other side of the barrier to get the man's attention and mouthed 'play'. The wizard looked at Ron curiously and seemed to be asking him what he wanted to play. Ron beamed and mimed swinging something with his right hand; Neville guessed it was a bat of some sort. The patient looked startled and shrugged. Ron manoeuvred the patient to one side so he was standing right beside the clear partition and then pointed from his eyes forward, telling him to watch.

Ron turned to Hermione and smiled at her before holding up an invisible ball and moving his right arm back as if ready to take a swing at the ball with whatever was in his hand. Hermione laughed out loud.

"Tennis! Are you insane?"

Ron shrugged and then nodded. He took a few steps back, still facing Hermione on the other side of the barrier and pointed at her before moving two stiff fingers on each hand forward and slightly outwards as he turned his fingers upside down.

"Oh no, Ron," Hermione waved a hand in amusement, "you take the first serve."

Ron turned sideways on but kept facing her. He pretended to bounce the ball on the ground a couple of times. Marmalade wagged his tail excitedly. Ron held up a finger to indicate to Hermione that she should wait a moment before looking around himself and picking up an invisible stick. He waved it before Marmalade and then threw it to the far side of the room. The dog happily chased after the fictional stick and began rummaging around for it where he thought the object had fallen. Ron rolled his eyes and shook his head at his dog's gullibility while Hermione looked smug and seemed to be telling him with her facial expression alone that Crookshanks would never have fallen for that.

Once again Ron bounced the make believe ball on the floor before tossing it into the air and swinging his bat, or whatever it was he was supposed to have in his hand, to send the ball towards Hermione. In a moment of utter delight for Neville Hermione swung an invisible bat back and struck the ball back into the Quarantine zone while bouncing around on her toes, alert for the match.

Ron lunged and chipped the ball back. Hermione jumped and missed. Ron looked pleased with himself and Hermione scowled at him playfully. Some of the patients applauded. Auror Jacobs came running to see what the racket was all about and soon found himself trying to keep score.

That was bizarre in itself, Neville thought, if this was a Muggle game then he'd have to have words with Dean Thomas next time he saw him. How could he scoff at the points system in Quidditch when Ron went from being 'Love' to fifteen to thirty to forty in just under a minute?

Hermione rolled up her sleeves and Ron signed to her that she meant business. She nodded and gripped her racquet, that's what it was called apparently, and grunted as she returned his serve. Neville actually gasped at the animalistic noise she made, not believing such a sound could come from a person like Hermione, and lunged to his left and stumbled into the wall while Hermione bounced around triumphantly.

"Forty-fifteen!" she declared happily.

Ron rolled his shoulders and picked up the ball. Marmalade had given up on his quest for the make believe stick and was trotting back over to his master and watching the invisible ball bouncing excitedly. Ron's face was a mask of determination as he narrowed his eyes at Hermione, who smirked and rocked from side to side twirling her racquet between her hands while she waited for Ron to serve. Ron threw the ball into the air, swung and slammed the non existent ball through the barrier and into the safe zone.

Hermione was swinging to hammer it back while Ron was on his toes in readiness for her return. The ball came hurtling back so fast several people gasped. Neville laughed as he realised everyone was almost seeing the ball for real and was soon on his feet watching the rally as Ron backhanded the ball back to her. Hermione ran backwards a few steps and slammed the ball back to Ron, who had to stumble forward to get to it before its second bounce. He just chipped it over the net and Hermione was ready for it, hammering it past him and throwing her arms up into the air jubilantly.

"That's thirty-forty!" she puffed.

Ron stood up straight and nodded, pointing at himself.

"Yeah," Neville lip-read the patient on the sidelines shouting, "to _us!_"

Ron had done it again, he'd galvanised a bunch of people thrown together against their will into a team. They were his team and they were supporting him in the match against the so-called clean side. A female patient from the Quarantine side was clapping alongside Auror Kelly and Sam the magic sapper was calling out encouragement to Hermione.

Ron took a deep breath and tried to focus. He threw the ball up and swung his arm back. Marmalade jumped up and tried to catch the imaginary bally happily. There were roars and cheers and Ron was waving his arms around saying it didn't count because the dog had interfered with play. In the end he and Hermione agreed to call it a second serve and Ron ordered Marmalade to go and sit in the corner, which the dog did very reluctantly, before throwing the ball up again and slamming his serve right at Hermione.

She sprung back and smacked the ball in return and Ron doubled over as if it had hit him in the stomach. Hermione threw her head back and laughed while members of Ron's supporters seemed to be booing and chuckling at the same time.

"I think that's deuce," Hermione said smartly.

Ron nodded sarcastically and rubbed his stomach as he wandered over to pick up a glass of water from the table and gulp it down. One of his patients said something and Ron nodded and winked at them.

Ron moved his hands towards each other and away, fingers splayed and pointing into each other, jerkily.

"Oh its war he says," Hermione translated for her supporters who all jeered, "We'll see Weasley."

Ron nodded and began to bounce the ball, not taking his eyes off Hermione the whole time, and smoothly he tossed the ball into the air and cut a graceful arch through the air as he swung to strike the ball. The ball whizzed by Hermione, her feet planted to the spot, and Ron grinned smugly at her while people gasped about it ball leaving a trail of flames behind it.

"Advantage Weasley," Hermione muttered grudgingly.

Ron reached out for the young wizard to throw him a new ball, which he did eagerly, and he caught it and brought it to his lips to kiss it while smirking at Hermione.

"Get on with it you poser," Hermione giggled.

Ron served for the game.

* * *

The cave was drafty but at least it gave him shelter from the rain. There was also only one way in or out and he had set up camouflage cover and several traps that would make a lot of noise no matter how stealthily anyone or anything tried to get inside. He even went so far as to scatter dry crunchy leaves over the floor so the rustle would catch his attention.

It was hard to turn off his constant state of alert but he knew he needed rest if he was going to stay on the ball and evade infection. He had yet to come across any human infected and worried that that might mean they had found a way through the barrier or worse - into the clinic.

Harry's t-shirt was clinging to him and practically see through. He shivered and removed his glasses to wipe the droplets of water away on his jeans. He thought about what he'd do to start lighting a fire the Muggle way but knew that even if he could manage it the smoke would be a dead giveaway and he'd be mincemeat.

Quite literally; mincemeat.

He scrambled around the darkened cave, only able to make out shapes and shadows in the darkness, and felt some pointy rocks and sturdy sticks he could fashion into weapons. If he needed to cave in some heads he didn't want to be near enough for the blood spatter to infect him. As he tested the strength of twenty inch wooden stick between his hands he felt thankful that he didn't chose the trainers with the Velcro fasteners.

He unlaced one of his shoes and set about using it to fasten a diamond shaped rock to the end of the stick. He felt a little bit like a caveman as he made his crude axe and muttered a quick 'Yabba Dabba Doo' to himself to keep himself feeling like daft old Harry and not the feral savage he knew he was having to be to stay alive.

He could hear the rain, just as hard as ever, beating loudly against the leaves above and wondered if that subdued or enraged the infected. Maybe they didn't even know the difference. The look in their eyes wasn't one of comprehension at all. It was as if all the eyes could see was prey, something to bite and savage, and they knew enough to recognise their own kind.

Why was it they wanted to infect people? To kill them? Was it hunger or anger or instinct? What purpose did it serve and what change came over a person as they became infected? A human being was brave and frightened and so very full of emotions and morals and then they became exposed to the blood and there was no more fear. There was no humanity or logic or sense to their actions.

Was it like death? Or Imperius?

Harry wondered if there was a cure, an antidote, an inoculation...was anyone immune?

It seemed to be indiscriminate and unstoppable and it scared Harry even more than Voldemort ever had. At least Riddle was motivated by hate and power, even insanity if you wanted to excuse his actions to some degree, but the infected had no motivation at all. All they wanted was to gouge and tear and rip life apart and as soon as they did they lost interest in their prey.

Harry tried to think back to all those nature documentaries on television. Was there anything in nature that killed recreationally, habitually, without any necessity?

Well apart from the obvious of course.

Human beings did it, some human beings, and cats seemed to hunt and kill out of playfulness. Foxes attacked and killed Dudley's rabbits but didn't eat them. Aunt Marge's dreadful dog had tormented a frog in the garden once, wagging his tail and tossing the poor thing into the air until he got bored and shook the thing to death and walked away. Animals play dead for a reason, because other creatures in the animal kingdom rarely bother with dead things.

Maybe the infected weren't so different after all.

Maybe his last resort should be to play dead and cross his fingers.

Maybe he had a hope in hell.

* * *

_A/N Thanks and love and a game of imaginary tennis mixed doubles with Ron, Hermione and Neville to my Ickle sister The Steppy One._


	10. The Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn

**The Darkest Hour is Just Before Dawn**

He could hear scratching outside, scratching against the walls of the clinic, and he held his breath and lay as still as he could to listen.

There it was again, scratching, and nobody inside the clinic was making a sound. Ron opened his eyes and peered through the darkness; black silhouettes against dark blue light were all he could make out. He looked over his shoulder through the barrier to see if Hermione, asleep beside him, was awake too.

He shivered, the clear plastic barrier was shredded, and an icy cold breeze wafted the strips of torn plastic into the quarantine area like a ragged ghost passing through. There was nobody on Hermione's side of the clinic. Hermione was nowhere to be seen, nor was Neville or the patients and staff, and Ron instinctively reached out to feel for his dog at his side.

His hand set down in a thick pool of cold blood that oozed through his fingers and his eyes suddenly became accustomed to the darkness and he could see that everyone in the Quarantine zone was lying on the floor covered in blood.

They'd been slaughtered.

He gasped and searched the black room, the scent of the blood, like rust, hitting him full on now and found it impossible to get up from the floor. The drying blood was sticking his clothing to the smooth cool linoleum and the still wet blood caused his hand and feet to skid and slip. He was flailing around like an upturned crab and his breath picked up speed in his panic.

As he felt himself slammed down onto his back, arms having been wrenched out from under him, he was blinded by a bright blue-ish light that felt to him like a small blade piercing him between the eyes. He winced and tried to roll over onto his front to protect his stinging eyes from the brilliant light that had exploded through the darkness. He couldn't move and he felt as if his arms were under a great deal of pressure.

Then a figure stepped out of the light, a figure he recognised well, and the black haired woman clad in a bodice of armour smiled down at him while his arms ached with even more pressure.

"Ron," the woman spoke as if she was a great distance away and her voice was echoing off walls and canyons to reach his ears, "I helped you save him last time."

Ron yelped as he saw his scars returning to his smooth freckled arms. The glowing white cables winding tightly around wrists, elbows, shoulders and everywhere in between. He thrashed and tried to get up but the spirit of Rowena Ravenclaw was possessing him again.

"Why?" Ron panted before his eyes bulged in shock at hearing his own voice again.

He hadn't been able to speak since he had been possessed the last time, he and Ravenclaw had found a way to turn all the remaining Death Eaters into squibs and soon after he'd lost his scars and his only tie to the powerful witch.

"I must force my way back into you because you can not save Harry Potter on your own Ronald." Ravenclaw said with a regretful shake of the head as she stood over him and looked down sadly, "You were never able to save him without me, Ronald. Without me, Harry Potter will be dead."

Something clawed and tore at him. Ron kicked out his legs as the ball of light that was Ravenclaw swallowed him up and his arms felt as if they were going to break under the pressure. He seemed to be flying and then he hit the floor in a black room and an almighty boom released him from the possession and he sat up, panting.

* * *

Hermione woke from her usual 'separation anxiety' nightmare.

Whenever she and Ron were apart and she was under some considerable stress she'd dream that Ron was captured. He would be at the mercy of people, Death Eaters she guessed, who wanted information about something. They would hold or tie Ron's arms behind his back and begin demanding Ron 'talk'. The longer it went on the worse the threats got which then became beatings and, if she hadn't managed to wake herself up before then, torture.

She would always wake up in tears at her poor Ron being tormented because he wasn't able to talk. This time she woke just as the ringleader of the mob holding Ron had thrown the first unmerciful punch to Ron's face. She turned to seek comfort in his warmth, his arms, just as she always would but her face smooshed against the clear partition and she sputtered and sat up with a huff.

As she made out some shapes of candles and shadows moving in the darkness she looked down to Ron where he lay on the other side of the thin partition and flung herself at it in an instant.

"No! Oh Ron, no, please don't do this...not tonight!"

The Broad chested Auror appeared over her shoulder in an instant.

"What's wrong; is he having a fit?"

"He's having a nightmare!" Hermione pressed her hands flat against the partition anxiously, "He needs someone to hold him until it passes."

The broad chested Auror licked his lips and searched the Quarantine area for one of the Aurors who was still awake. He waved his arms and got the attention of Auror Jacobs. The man sprang to his feet and ran over to the commotion he'd now noticed in front of Hermione and tried to shake Ron awake.

Ron gave a convulsive shudder and began scrabbling at the floor beneath him with his hands. Jacobs gave up on trying to wake Ron and dropped him back down onto the floor heavily.

"Hold him!" The broad chested Auror was mouthing while miming a bear hug at Jacobs through the partition at his colleague.

Jacobs nodded and grabbed at Ron's flailing arms and forced them down before calling over his shoulder to wake some of the others.

"No, not hold him down," the Auror behind Hermione exclaimed, running a hand through his hair in frustration, "Jacobs, look at me!"

Auror Jacobs was too busy pinning Ron down by the wrists while a couple of others held his shoulders and elbows to prevent his panic induced thrashing. Hermione's eyes welled up and she pounded on the barrier between her and Ron.

"Stop it," she sobbed, "he's just scared, you just have to hold him to you and let him know he's safe and he's dreaming!"

The Aurors were holding Ron's arms so firmly Hermione winced at the bruises she knew would be forming and soon Neville was at her side and rocking her in the same way she wished she could be doing for Ron at that moment.

"Leave him alone," Hermione whimpered.

Soon Sam, the Magic Sapper, was pounding on the barrier too and trying to communicate with the people watching what was happening that Ron needed the Auror's to be pulled off him but everybody was too worried and nervous to move.

Somebody ran and handed Auror Kelly a torch which she lit and shone down into Ron's face to see if he had become infected somehow. Ron's face scrunched up and he struggled once more to sit up or roll over. The hands forced him down again and Hermione's heart broke when she saw Ron's lips moving. There was nothing worse than when Ron started to try to call for help in his nightmares, it only served to upset him more.

Marmalade was pulling at Auror Jacobs' robes and scratching and clawing at the group of people assaulting his master. Eventually somebody noticed the broad chested Auror on the clean side of the partition ordering them to release Ron and back away. As the crowd holding Ron down gradually moved away the dog broke through and began pawing at Ron's chest and nudging him with his nose. Marmalade was trying to make Ron get up and Auror Jacobs appeared to make a decision.

He grabbed Ron and carried him across the room to an open doorway, Marmalade following on and nuzzling at his master's dangling arm all the way, and Hermione cried out in despair as she saw that the Auror was locking Ron and his dog in a separate room on their own.

"No!" She flung herself against the barrier, "He needs me. Please let me go to him, he needs me please."

* * *

There were flashes.

He saw flashes of blood and lightning, flashes of his hand bleeding with the word 'lies', flashes of a smiling Fudge declaring everyone was safe while one by one he and his friends dropped in battle with Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and the last images to flash through his mind were ones that frequently woke him from his sleep.

There was a flash of a blade and then spurting blood, Ron was being dragged away from Harry by a gang of Death Eaters intent on hurting him, and then he was bursting with light and energy and collapsing onto the ground. Harry sat bolt upright and gritted his teeth to hold in his exclamation of fear and anger. He was used to stifling his nightmares, not wanting to wake Ginny or alert Ron to the fact he was still tormented by all the troubles the brain scars and brought with them.

He blinked and looked around the shelter. It was still raining outside and it appeared that he hadn't been discovered. He bit his lip and wondered if his dream was just more of the usual or whether it meant something deeper.

Was he being reminded of the times Umbridge denied the facts he struggled to drum into her and everybody else, and Fudge's denial that ultimately cost Sirius his life and everybody who had gone to the Department of Mysteries their health and wellbeing? Were the people trapped in the clinic going to be left to die? Was the border going to remain sealed until the virus or whatever it was ran its course?

How long would it be before Ron lost his patience and set off into the open? Harry cursed Ron under his breath. Why did that lanky git have to be so much like...well, _him_!

Harry got to his feet and began to pace.

No, he wouldn't, Ron wouldn't leave the patients and Hermione to go off and run for the border and get help. He wouldn't think of going back into danger afterwards to search for Harry. He wouldn't be that stupid would he? Not as stupid as Harry would have been.

Only there was a reason Harry and Ron were such close and utterly dedicated friends, they were both as loyal and dense as the other. Harry saw the sky was lightening, the sun would be coming up soon, and he resolved that this would be the best time to make a run for the border to try and get through or alert the outside world at the very least.

He'd still have the cover of the darkness and the peacefulness of the pre-dawn hour, it was his best bet for survival and the kicking of Ron's arse if he had broken out of the clinic, and if he just stayed hidden it would serve no purpose other than put him on 'missing presumed zombie' lists.

Reaching for his improvised spear Harry kicked down his camouflaged barricade and set off at a run.


	11. Breakout

_A/N Please make sure you read the previous chapter. fanfiction dot net is doing it's party piece of not sending updates or sending updates but in the wrong order. Did you read the tennis match? Did you read Ron, Hermione and Harry's nightmares? If the answer to both is yes then go ahead and read, if no then you need to go back a chapter or two first._

**Breakout**

Ron was on his hands and knees on the floor of the small room, panting heavily from his nightmare and his rude awakening. Marmalade was smearing his wet nose all over Ron's face and wagging his tail. Ron shoved the dog away so he could sit back on his haunches and get his bearings.

With a deep sigh he looked around the room, whites glowing blue from the indigo sky outside. The sun would be rising soon, Ron thought. He recognised the room as the one he and Harry had been in with Abigail and he rubbed his face wearily and shook his head at how long ago that whole thing felt from where he was now.

Marmalade made a small sound, like an enquiry if it was okay to approach his master again, and cocked his head. Ron patted his lap and reached for the dog as it bounded back over to him. Ron smiled sadly and rubbed his hand against his chest before ruffling the dog's fur with it.

Marmalade didn't seem to be too offended by Ron having pushed him away and licked behind Ron's ear, causing the redhead to scrunch up his face and chuckle silently. Marmalade never held his temper against him. Ron was always instantly forgiven and he couldn't say the same for most people.

They leaned against a wall and Ron played with Marmalade's fur thoughtfully while he tried to clear the nightmare from his mind. He'd have anxiety dreams whenever he was stressed; the Healers at St Mungo's had told him it was to do with the brain damage he received when he went into his coma. Ron rolled his eyes, his life was so very un-typical while being so very simple, and wondered just how upset Hermione had become when he was having his nightmare induced fit.

She'd always cry when he woke up at home, always in her arms, and made a big deal about how she would always be there for him when he woke up. Ron knew it was an un-keepable promise but he knew Hermione as well and she was going to be torn apart that he had woken up alone. As much as she went on at people about Ron being more than capable in everything he did and encouraged him to be as independent as possible, despite all the limitations put on him by other people, Hermione would still treat him as if he wouldn't be able to cope without her sometimes.

Percy had said something interesting to Ron once. He'd said that everybody needed to feel needed. He told Ron that the family and Harry and Hermione needed Ron to rely on them because they were all so lost without him. Ron hadn't understood this but Percy insisted that if his little brother had gone off on his own into the world, no living with his girlfriend and no working every day amongst friends, that he would have felt useless. Ron had become people's way of defining themselves.

'_I work with him'_

'_I live with him'_

'_I take care of him'_

'_I love him'_

It wasn't that Ron needed help; it was that they all needed to be helping him.

Ron looked down at Marmalade's head resting in his lap. Had Harry bought him a dog just so he was always with a carer? The dogs big brown eyes shone back up at him and the tail thudded lazily against the floor in a slow wag. Ron smiled and gave a thumbs up before stroking his chin. Marmalade licked at Ron's arm and he frowned to see the bruises forming from wrist to shoulder. It was the same up the other arm. That must have been why he had dreamt that his scars had come back.

Ron closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. The dream Ravenclaw had told him she was coming back to save Harry because Ron couldn't do it on his own. Like fuck he couldn't. He didn't need other-worldly assistance or a brain like Hermione's, he didn't need Harry's destiny or the Twins' craving for havoc, he didn't need a voice or a wand or anything at all.

He was the Ron Weasley that everybody else needed to look after. He didn't need looking after. He certainly wasn't going to sit in a bloody cupboard and wait until somebody needed to check on him.

They were going to be all right. The people trapped inside the clinic were going to be safe and secure and they were going to take care of each other. After the bonding of the night before Ron felt better about the thought he was having.

He drew in a deep breath and let it out before sitting up straight and clicking his fingers for Marmalade to do the same. Eager as ever to please, the dog did as it was told instantly.

Ron put a fisted right hand into his left palm and moved them towards his body. He then lifted his thumb and forefinger from waist level to cheek and slid his palm flat over the other before making a fist. Marmalade barked and spun around in a small circle. Well at least with Marmalade he didn't have anybody telling him his plan to go and look for Harry wasn't a good idea, he thought.

Ron got to his feet and tapped his chest with both thumbs twice. Marmalade jumped up at him and gave a soft woof. Ron grinned at his best bet at sniffing Harry out and tapped the back of his wrist with his index and little finger and then pointed at himself. The dog dropped back down onto all fours and waited for Ron to do whatever it was he'd just instructed the animal to watch him doing.

Ron moved the small table away from the wall and got down on his hands and knees before the hole in the wall. Marmalade immediately sniffed his arse. Ron sniggered to himself and began to crawl through the small hole in the wall and shimmied up to his feet so he could side step all the way along the interior and exterior walls of the clinic.

He tried to ignore the brushes of unseen spider webs against his skin in the darkness and focused on the sound of Marmalade snuffling and sneezing as he followed on behind. Ron guessed he was creating dust that was aggravating the animal's sensitive nose. It was only at that moment that Ron realised what he'd done. He was in the dark, trapped between two walls, with a sneezing dog and he couldn't shout out if he got stuck.

He resolved not to get stuck.

He sucked his stomach in unnecessarily and moved further along the wall. He really hadn't thought it through. He didn't even know if there was a way out other than the way he'd come in. Surely Abigail must have been making her way between the two tight walls for a reason other than just hiding though, he thought to himself. Marmalade snuffled and grunted again. Ron closed his eyes and gritted his teeth as he moved through a particularly large cobweb and gave a shudder.

Somehow, despite not making a sound and being in the pitch black, Marmalade knew Ron was scared and nuzzled against his master's hand. Ron gripped the fur at the scruff of the dog's neck and held on as they kept moving. Marmalade didn't appear to mind in the least. Ron tried to keep his breathing steady and remind himself that he couldn't be more petrified of walking through spider webs than he was at the prospect of being out in the open with a bunch of infected Inferi types but he never was the best at comforting himself in the face of spiders.

After a few minutes Ron found himself with his eyes tightly shut and breathing very erratically. He stopped and sank down awkwardly in an attempt to compose himself. He still had hold of Marmalade, who instinctively pushed his body under Ron's arms so he had something to hold, and he tried to steady his nerves while imagining what every little tickle or itch on his skin could be caused by.

He refused to let his arachnophobia get the better of him.

What was the point of being so independent if he was going to sit and cower in the dark because he was afraid of spiders? He was a grown man who had fought Death Eaters, had his throat slashed, been in a coma, killed a room full of people with just his magic and no wand, and reduced a bunch of dark wizards to squibs while possessed by a long dead Hogwarts founder and yet here he was...the same little boy he was when Fred had done a number on his teddy bear.

He didn't need help and he didn't need pity. He could communicate just fine thank you very much and he didn't need any of his clever or powerful friends to look after him. He didn't need protecting and he didn't want it either. Nobody was going to save him, not any more, he was going to save himself and stand on his own and show everybody they had nothing to worry about. Harry needed somebody to rescue him and Ron was the person to do it.

Ron hadn't noticed that he'd got back to his feet but he had. He drew in a deep bracing breath and nodded to himself before making a clicking sound to Marmalade with his tongue against his teeth. He could hear the soft beating of the dog's tail against the wall on either side of them. Ron smiled and ruffled the fur on Marmalade's head. He let his hand fall to his side and patted the outside of his thigh before setting off once again.

The narrow space was illuminated by a brilliant flash of lightning followed, several seconds later, by the crash of accompanying thunder. Ron felt Marmalade quiver against his legs and stooped to stroke him. It was kind of nice that they were both scared of something but staying strong for the other despite it. Then Ron realised something.

He'd _seen_ the flash of lightning.

There must be an opening somewhere. Ron fumbled along the outer wall and moved along with determination. He could hear the rain outside and the whining noises Marmalade made as he followed his master close behind. There was another bright flash and Ron saw the shadow of his hand against the inner wall. He must have had his hand in front of the opening for that to happen, he thought just as the thunder rumbled through the hills and valleys. It sounded as if the storm was passing them by rather than getting closer. Ron felt happy for Marmalade and gave the dog a scratch under his chin.

Ron shifted his shoulders as he just about managed to turn on the spot and see the opening that had let in the light. It was an old window that had been closed off by the wall. That had been why he hadn't felt the rain or the air against his skin, just a solid surface, he'd run his hand over a pane of glass. Ron curled his long fingers around one of the boards that still covered the window and pulled.

It came loose a little bit but was nailed pretty securely. It made Ron feel a little better about the security of the building and everybody hidden inside if he was honest with himself. He tried to get himself into a better position to pull and grabbed the board firmly. He pushed his foot against the exterior wall and pulled back as hard as he could.

The board came loose, Marmalade jumped out of the way with a yelp of shock, the lighting blinded Ron and a splinter the side of a table leg drove itself into Ron's finger.

Well okay, it wasn't the side of a table leg but it was big.

Ron hissed and pulled the splinter out with his teeth just as the thunder rumbled away, almost grumbling about the pain with him, and spat it at his feet. His finger was bleeding. That was not what he needed with all this bad blood flying around and zombifying people. He sucked on his finger while looking at the half exposed window. It would probably be better if he just tried to squeeze out of it as it was. He was skinny after all, he was sure he could manage it.

He pulled his sore finger from his mouth and shook his hand in that way he seemed to do whenever he cut himself and wanted the cut to stop bleeding. Marmalade made a confused sounding noise and Ron realised the dog was probably trying to work out what that sign meant. Ron grabbed the rusted handle of the window with both hands and forced it open with some considerable effort. As the hinges screamed Ron cringed at the amount of noise he was creating. It seemed, or at least he hoped, the infected people were driven into shelter by the storm.

Ron turned and looked down at the glowing eyes of Marmalade and wondered if the infected were afraid of the thunder just like he was.

With a grunt of effort Ron pushed his foot against the window ledge and heaved himself up and out through the window. He landed heavily with a squelch into the mud and turned to pat his hands against his thighs to encourage Marmalade to follow him. Without a moment's hesitation the ginger dog jumped through and splashed down into a puddle. The sky was getting lighter and Ron needed to quickly pull the window closed and jam the loose boards over the glass in an attempt to disguise the window from any infected people still with some kind of human intelligence.

By the time he had done this, and added some camouflage for extra effect, Ron was soaked through. He was still wearing the too small t-shirt and his hair was dripping into his eyes. Marmalade shook out his sopping wet coat and looked up at his master expectantly. Ron smiled down at his loyal companion and crouched to give the dog a hug of thanks for staying with him despite the thunderstorm.

Standing once again Ron looked around at the surrounding woods and considered where Harry might have gone into hiding. First things first, he thought, he should check the border and see if any reinforcements had come yet. Maybe Harry was with them and waiting to make a daring rescue.

Ron whistled for Marmalade and patted himself on the side of the thigh before he set off walking for the magical checkpoint, his dog happily bounding along behind him.


	12. To the Rescue

**To the Rescue**

They had their briefing from the head of the secret service and had been prepared and trained for such an event but it had still taken them by surprise when the Prime Minister had activated their small team and sent them to Cumbria. Something was very wrong but nobody could tell if it was a magical situation or a human situation.

Kerry knew that they were supposed to refer to their forces as 'Muggle' when on missions with the magical people of Great Britain but as far as she was concerned _they_ were human beings and the witches and wizards were something else. She also resented how stupid the word Muggle made normal human beings sound.

She was third in command of her special operations team and now found herself in charge after watching her squadron leader and captain ripped to pieces by a mob of semi naked human monsters. They were like people mad with rabies, which was how they were treating them, and had been sent out on a mission to destroy the infected people as humanely as possible.

So far their humane destruction had been to shoot the wild people in the head or cave in their skulls with the butt of their guns if necessary. Kerry's new second in command, Jim, was having trouble with his gun jamming every once in a while and they'd had to abandon their spare ammunition when the agent carrying it had been slaughtered, coating everything of use with his entrails.

She was kind of glad, for the first time in her life, that she had become desensitised to gore. The first time she realised she wasn't bothered by spilled blood and guts she had started drinking and gone to see the Ministry of Defence shrink to find out if she was losing her mind. She didn't find much comfort in being told she was just going through what everyone else went through.

She led her band of four survivors through the trees after they agreed that if they carried on with the plan as it was they'd all drop one by one and the best course of action would be to get the patients out of the clinic and over the border.

Nobody could cross the border without one of them in physical contact. The rule had been they needed to be alive, meaning uninfected, and under the charm the Wizard secret agent bloke had cast over them all. This looked as if it meant forming a hand holding chain to lead the magic nutters out into the real world.

Of all the things she'd expected as her first mission with the wand wavers, liberating a magical mad house wasn't what Kerry had imagined. The group of witches and wizards who came with them were all utterly useless without their magic; nobody wanted them armed with guns so all they had were swords and clubs. Pretty soon they were all throwing their weapons aside and coming at Kerry and the others with cloudy eyes and a craving for blood.

It turns out that smashing in the skull of a magical person is no different to smashing in the skull of a normal person.

"Sarge," one of the guys said uneasily, "I can see movement out in the open over by the checkpoint."

Kerry lifted her weapon and used the telescopic sight to follow the colourful blur as it ran across the grass. It was a red headed young man, tall and fairly skinny, followed by a dog with fur the exact same colour as the man's hair.

"Is the animal chasing him or running with him?" Jim asked as he trained his gun on the pair

"Shoot it anyway; a loose animal is too high a risk." Kerry instructed.

"Yes Sarge," Jim said with a nod of assent.

Kerry watched as the man reached the border and pulled up just before it, as if he knew it was there...as if he knew exactly where the magical barrier would be.

"Hold on Jim," Kerry said as she watched from their cover in the trees, "the guy has awareness, I don't think he's infected."

"He will be if the fuckin' dog bites him!" one of Kerry's more petulant squaddies snorted, "Put the animal down Jim."

"I said wait!" Kerry snapped, casting a severe glance at the squaddie, "Look at them, the dog's come to a stop too and it's wagging its bloody tail. We've got a clean person out in the open."

"They won't be clean for long out there Sarge," the other surviving member of the squad, a butch dark haired special operative called Redding said grimly, "one of us will have to go out there and get them or we'll have to sit tight and watch them get slaughtered."

"What's all this 'them' crap?" the insubordinate scoffed, "I ain't risking my neck to save a dog!"

"We're getting that man over the border and checking out the dog to be sure it's safe to pass through and getting that out too. If an animal like that got infected we'd be in even bigger shit than we are with the savage humans." Kerry said sternly.

"The Sarge is right you prick," Redding agreed, "I don't want a rabid animal running around this place, not another one anyway."

Kerry still remembered the psychotic badger that had ripped the calf muscle out of one of the burly wizards as soon as they entered the woods. If that dog was clean they had to get it over the border right away, for everybody's sake.

"Okay this is my call so it'll be my risk," Kerry announced as she handed her spare ammunition to Jim, "you're in charge until I get back, take this in case I don't make it."

"Don't say that Kerry," Jim winced.

"Be realistic Jim," Kerry smiled and winked, "expect the worst and all I can do is surprise you. The squad is yours soldier."

"Good luck Sarge," Redding said as she lifted her gun to cover Kerry on her journey.

"Don't all of you watch me, somebody be on the alert for infected people or foxes or...shit, I dunno, butterflies!" Kerry grinned before setting off.

* * *

Ron banged his fists against the invisible barrier in frustration.

He wasn't annoyed about the barrier still keeping people in, in fact it made him feel better that the safety of the outside world was still secure, but his heart fell to see that there were no reinforcements waiting on the other side. They had been left to die. They had been abandoned by the Ministry. It was yet another hush up job and who would ever know?

"You!" a distant voice called out.

Ron turned to look over his shoulder and saw a woman running towards him. She had something black in her hands and was dressed in the same colours as the trees behind her. Marmalade stood before Ron and gave a low growl.

"Back dog!" the woman said as she pointed the black thing at Marmalade, "If that thing's safe them hold onto it or ill shoot."

Ron grabbed Marmalade by the collar and pulled him back. The woman had a Muggle gun. She was a Muggle. They'd sent Muggles in to help them. Ron smiled at the logic of it, who better to fight an enemy without magic?

"Show me you're clean sir." The woman ordered; out of breath and still pointing the gun at Ron.

Ron held his hands out before him and looked at them in the same way he would when his mother would screech at him to wash his hands before grabbing a fairy cake from the baking tray.

"Lift your shirt, are you bleeding?" the woman instructed.

Ron shook his head and pulled the too small t shirt up his pale body to show her he wasn't infected in any way. At her gesture he turned around so she could see his back.

"The dog clean too?" She seemed satisfied that Ron was safe and pointed her gun at Marmalade who was still very defensive over his master being shouted at by the woman with the black object.

Ron nodded and tried to pull Marmalade behind him while the dog struggled to stay in front of him, between Ron and the danger.

"I really scared you eh?" the woman said with a half smile, lowering her gun, "Sorry but you know how it is out here."

Ron sighed and gave another nod.

"You can talk y'know? You don't need permission to speak."

Ron winced and shook his head. The woman frowned and opened her mouth to ask another question but Ron beat her to it by lifting his chin and pointing at the scar across his throat.

"Oh," the woman said, fingers gripping her gun tightly again but still aiming it down at the ground, "you're one of the patients are you? Escaped the hospital did you?"

Ron shook his head and pointed at himself and then waved in the direction of the clinic before pausing to try and think of a way of telling this Muggle Auror that he worked there and she wasn't to worry about him.

"You can't make a sound at all?" She said suspiciously.

Ron tutted at her and rolled his eyes. The woman froze for a moment before breaking into a smile and letting her gun swing at her side from the strap over her shoulder with a small chuckle.

"Okay so you're quiet yet funny, I think I found my perfect man."

The woman stepped closer and paused before Marmalade with caution. She slowly held out her hand and Marmalade sniffed the air before moving forward to snuffle at the back of her hand.

"You're a good dog eh? Friendly dog?" the woman's eyes flickered up to Ron, who nodded to reassure her, "Yours?"

Ron nodded again before clicking his fingers and waiting for Marmalade to turn his head and look up at him. As the dog wagged his tail Ron brought his fingers and thumbs together and then drew his hands apart horizontally. Marmalade made a soft sound and leaned into Ron's legs happily. Ron held up his thumb and then stroked his chin, winking and smiling at his loyal companion.

"Your dog understands sign language?" the woman gasped.

Ron blinked and nodded.

"Wow, impressive."

Ron beamed proudly. The woman shook her head and pointed over Ron's shoulder to the magical border.

"Let's get you both to safety then. I received a charm so I could pass back and fourth as long as I was clean and if you take my hand and hold onto your dog I can escort you through."

Ron was relieved that there was a plan in place to get people out. Maybe there would be an evacuation for the people in the clinic soon. He wondered if Harry had been found and escorted out. Ron patted himself on the chest and put his hand over his eyes like a visor and mimed searching the landscape. He held his hand beside himself to where Harry would stand in relation to him and then made two 'o' shapes with thumbs and forefingers and held them to his eyes.

"You're looking for something?" the woman blinked, "Were you with somebody else?"

Ron paten himself on the chest again and then made a fist and held it over his heart to try and communicate he was missing a friend. Again he mimed Harry's round glasses and then drew a lightning bolt on his forehead, pointed at his own scar and then back at his forehead, and could see that the woman wasn't following him at all.

"Glasses and wavy hair?" she squinted.

Ron huffed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, we've seen nobody else like you yet, you're the first." She said sadly, "Were you locked out of the hospital?"

Ron shook his head vigorously and waved towards the clinic before pushing his finger into a loose fist, the sign for inside, but he knew it was useless. This person had no idea what he was talking about.

"We're going to try to get them out okay? Just you and your dog step through the border with me and I'll get the team to the hospital for all your friends."

Ron stepped back from her and shook his head. There was no way her was leaving without finding Harry first. He pointed down at Marmalade determinately and then tapped the end of his long freckled nose before sniffing the air and then miming Harry's glasses again. He looked out at the surroundings to indicate to the woman that he planned to search the area and use Marmalade to sniff Harry out.

It was Harry's best chance to being tracked in a place where magic couldn't be used after all.

"Oh no," the woman said fiercely, "no, no, no. The doggie can't go looking for missing people. If you've lost somebody out here the chances are...well I won't let you go off looking."

Ron stared at her defiantly. Who was she to tell him what was and wasn't allowed?

"If there's anyone out there who's still clean we'll find them."

Ron pointed back and forth between the two of them hopefully.

"Not you and me 'we', me and my team 'we'."

Ron lifted his chin and folded his arms across his chest.

"I said no!" the woman said sternly, "This is not up for argument or negotiation, especially since you can't do either."

Ron snorted and threw the woman a look he hoped let her know he didn't need words to win an argument with the likes of her.

"You need to go to a new hospital and make sure your dog stays healthy and we will do what needs to be done to get the other patients out safely."

Ron huffed in annoyance and shook his head while taping the side of his head with his index finger. The woman held up both hand and took a step back.

"I didn't say you were crazy. I'm very sorry if I offended you but you can't stay here. It's far too dangerous for you."

Ron raised both his hands to his temples and rubbed, eyes closed and nerved frayed. What he would give for a quill and parchment right at that moment. There was a cracking sound that was similar to the sound of Apparition and his eyes opened. He saw a mob of infected people running from the cover of the woods and right at them. One of them fell to the ground, rolled around for a moment, and then got back to his feet to follow the others.

The woman cursed under her breath and raised her gun at the oncoming crowd. There were more cracks and Ron realised that it was the same as the gunshots he'd heard when he, Harry and Jess had been ambushed by the Death Eaters who were after Ravenclaw's power.

The woman fired twice and two of the nearer infected people were struck in the head. One was hit in the face and her whole head seemed to explode with blood as the body slammed down onto the floor. There were more distant cracks from the woods and more infected fell.

"Take my hand and grab your sodding dog Marcel Marceau!" the woman yelled at him.

The remaining infected mob were almost upon them and Marmalade was growling ferociously, straining against Ron's grip on his collar to attack their attackers, and all Ron could think of was how he couldn't leave Harry in the open with these things.

Well that and, '_Who the hell is Marcel Marceau?_'


	13. The Call of the Wild

_A/N WARNING for those who are squeamish or those who have just eaten. It's gonna be a graphic one this!_

**The Call of the Wild**

It was on the third crack that Harry knew he wasn't running towards the sound of Apparition. It was the exact same crack he had heard in this very place the day he got shot. He pumped his arms and legs and kept on running towards the sound.

More shots went off. It had to be the rescue. They couldn't take down the non-magical borders so the Aurors had to have come in with guns blazing. He just hoped their guns didn't blaze in _his_ direction. He tore past bushes and low hanging branches, wet leaves showering him with icy droplets, and hurdled over a fallen tree and straight into a muddy puddle.

As he scrunched up his face and pulled his foot out with a squelch he saw a milky-eyed Great Tit flying right at him from between the trees. Grabbing his hand made spear he stood his ground and gritted his teeth as the screeching little bird zoomed towards him. The bird's bloodied beak opened wide and Harry drew back his arm and then thrust the spear forward with deadly precision. The bird was skewered to the trunk of the tree behind it in an explosion of blood and feathers.

Harry winced before yanking his spear out of the tree and wiping off the bloodied point on some moss. More shots rang out and then a dog started barking. Harry's eyes widened and his breath caught at the back of his throat.

"Marmalade!"

Were Ron and the others getting liberated or had Ron gone and _'done a Ron'_ and run off in search of Harry? What if Ron got mistaken for one of the infected? He couldn't shout or tell them otherwise. Whoever it was out there shooting could take Ron's inability to talk and his hand gestures to mean he was one of them.

"Oh God," Harry shuddered as he set off once more.

The shots had stopped now and Marmalade, if that was Ron's dog barking at all, had shut up as well. Harry saw movement ahead of him and gripped the spear tightly in preparation for an attack. Sure enough the bushes to his left rustled and a shirtless and muddy infected man stumbled out before him.

Both men froze and stared at each other. The white eyes of the infected man blinked. Harry angled his spear so he could jam it as hard as he could with an upward thrust and waited for the man, or the thing that used to be a man, to go for him. Without any instigation the infected man sprung into life and ran at Harry with a gurgling sort of growl. Harry plunged the spear into the exposed throat of the grimy feral man and forced it all the way up into his skull.

The man fell and Harry tried to withdraw the spear but it was stuck. He grimaced and twisted the long wooden stick, pulling as he did so, but nothing happened. He put his foot on the man's face as blood trickled from his gaping mouth and pulled as hard as he could. A second infected person came blundering through the woods, a burly man with his lower jaw completely missing, and Harry snapped the stick with all his might.

The tip of his homemade spear was still buried deep inside the dead infected man's skull and all Harry could do was hope that his perfect aim stayed true as he plunged the jagged and splintered end of the stick through the roof of the burly man's mouth and stumbled backwards in revulsion as grey matter oozed out of the man's nostrils and his creamy white eyes bulged out of his head.

The infected man slammed down on his back, stick still protruding from his face like a flag pole without a flag, and Harry turned away and vomited. He could hear more pounding footsteps and snapping branches. The gunshots had driven the infected right towards him and he wasn't going to be able to overpower them fast enough. He dove for the cover of the bushes and crawled deep into the thick of it. Sharp twigs prodded and scratched at him and snagged on what remained of his t shirt.

He held his breath and froze in the most uncomfortable position imaginable as the dozen or so infected people came by, fleeing from the gunfire, some falling over the two bodies as they ran and none of them pausing for a moment. They really were just like animals in the way the responded.

_Run from the threat: attack when cornered: maim and kill indiscriminately._

Well not all animals were like that Harry thought as he stayed in his agonising position, back arching into a tight 'c' shape while his legs were splayed out at right angles in front of him, and then he listened carefully for an animal he trusted with his life. Marmalade wasn't making a sound anymore. That must mean he and Ron had crossed the border safely, Harry told himself while choosing to ignore the fact that the border wasn't soundproof so that was no excuse for the dog's silence at all.

Just as Harry thought about shifting around into a kneeling position he heard a stray infected person, a man dressed in what looked like army camouflage, running through the woods and stopping before the two bodies. He was breathing raggedly and clutching something in his hand. Harry squinted through the thicket to see what it was.

The infected man pawed at the dead bodies and made a grunting noise before throwing the object, what appeared to be a red hoop, to the ground and running off in the same direction as the others like him had gone. Harry waited in his crippling position for a full minute before daring to shift into a more comfortable position.

"Ah that's so much better," Harry hissed through his teeth in pain, "Now I can lay quite comfortably on this bed of nettles!"

He crawled out, swearing with every movement along the way, and brushed himself down when he was free of the bushes again. He huffed and picked a large thorn from his backside before leaning over to take a better look at the red hoop the stray infected man had discarded.

Harry didn't notice himself toppling forward onto his hands and knees but before he knew it he was down on the ground and choking back a cry of horror. It wasn't a small red hoop at all. It was a leather strap fastened into a circle by a silver buckle. It was a collar. It was a dog's collar. It looked just like Marmalade's collar.

"No," Harry wheezed as he shook his head and reached for the collar he himself had picked out on the day he was due to take Ron's new friend home to meet him.

He drew back his hand at the last minute, not wanting to touch something the infected man had been holding. Instead of picking the collar up Harry crawled around it on the ground and leaned further over to read the silver disc that was fixed to the buckle.

_Marmalade Weasley_

_If found please call the operator and ask to be transferred to network 9¾ then ask for Harry Potter._

That was a military man after all, a soldier, and he'd been infected. He would have been with the gunmen helping the people from the clinic escape and he had Marmalade's collar in his hand. Marmalade wouldn't leave Ron and Ron wouldn't leave Marmalade.

"Oh God no!" Harry said shakily.

He struggled back to his feet and ripped off his filthy t shirt. He wiped himself down, cleaned the blood off his shoes as best he could, and then threw the thing away. He turned to face the direction the infected had been running from. He didn't want to look for fear of what he might see but his feet were already moving him in that direction. He had to know if his worst fears were true. He had to see if Ron had made it or if he hadn't.

Harry knew one thing, if he found the dog, alive, dead or infected, he would find Ron too.

He set his jaw in determination that Ron was his own personal miracle and that he should never give up on him and ran. He ran without checking for animals or blood splashes that could get into his many cuts and scrapes and without giving a flying fuck how much noise he was making or how much attention that noise might be drawing to him. He sprinted and punched the foliage away until he burst out of the trees and into the clearing.

He knew where he was instantly.

He could see the border. He could see the checkpoint. He could see that there was nobody on the other side. He could see the clinic up on the hill in the distance and he could see the dark woodland on the other side of the clearing. He could also see a bright copper glow in the morning sunlight.

There was a dark shape on the ground, perfectly still, and a ginger coloured dog circling around it. It was, unmistakeably, Marmalade. Harry looked around himself for another makeshift weapon and saw nothing but a rock the size of his hand and picked it up. While his palm tried to find the most comfortable position for the rock to rest in, just right for bringing down with great force and caving in a skull, Harry's eyes never left the shape the dog was prowling around.

He began to walk out into the open, not even checking the coast was clear, and paced at speed towards the sight he was unable to tear his eyes away from. The dog stopped circling and pawed at the shape on the floor; the body - Harry could see it was a body now; in the same way the stray infected soldier had pawed at the two corpses on the ground before going on his way.

Harry was running now, fingers gripping the rock so tightly he could have squeezed any moisture out of it as if it was nothing more than a sponge and he saw the dog grabbing at the clothing of the body, a grimy white t shirt, and pulling at it. The body was dragged a little way and as it changed position on the grass Harry could see the bright red hair splayed against the rich green grass.

"_NO!"_ Harry roared as he thundered towards the two of them.

Marmalade did _not_ kill Ron.

The dog Harry bought for his best friend did _not_ maul him to death.

This was _not_ what it looked like.

Harry's fists were pure white by the time he reached Ron and Marmalade. The dog had seen him coming a long way off and had been prowling forward, head lowered, hackles up and teeth bared. Over the pumping of blood in Harry's ears he heard the incredibly low, deep rumbling of the animal's growl. Harry raised the rock and stood his ground. Marmalade's eyes flashed and he stood over Ron and practically spat his guttural snarl in Harry's direction.

Harry had never, not in all the displays of protectiveness Marmalade had shown Ron in the past, ever seen this animal look so ferocious. Its lips were curled up so much that teeth and gums were shining in the sunlight. Somehow the playfulness was all gone and the Retriever appeared to have grown into a bear, the stance and intimidation making him appear ten times bigger and more dangerous. More than anything he was seeing, however, it was the sound he was making. It was a sound of pure hatred and brutality. This creature wanted nothing more than to rip something limb from limb and it was looking right at Harry.

That was the second time Harry had really considered Marmalade's eyes and he realised they weren't cloudy.

"Marmalade," Harry said, body still tense and rock raised to come crashing down on the dog's head if he made a lunge for him, "it's Harry, it's me boy. Sit!"

The dog snarled and drool poured from the corners of his mouth while his whole body seemed to quake from the inside out. The aggression in the animal was boiling over and Harry had to attack the thing or back off right now.

"Down boy!" Harry commanded with his most authoritative tone.

Marmalade's growl was almost as all encompassing as the previous night's thunder and it practically shook the ground beneath Harry's feet. This was it, he thought, he had no other choice...he had to kill the dog.


	14. One Man and His Dog

**One Man and His Dog**

The Muggle Auror grabbed Ron by the shoulders and thrust him through the invisible barrier with her. Marmalade was dragged through with them, Ron still having a tight hold on his collar, and the three of them slammed down on the grass just as the mob of infected people slammed against the barrier.

Marmalade was rolling over and getting up to lunge at the savages viciously. The barrier held the dog off too so all either party were able to do was claw and scratch at the magical force that separated them.

Ron was sprawled out flat on his back on the damp grass, the woman was on top of him and panting heavily, and still more gunshots filled the air.

"They can shoot as much as they like now," the woman puffed as she rolled off Ron and thudded down onto her back, "the bullets can't come through the barrier. They don't have to worry about hitting us."

Ron sat up and clicked his fingers but Marmalade's barks were far too loud for the dog to hear his master trying to get his attention. Ron clapped his hands with a huff but the orange coloured dog was scratching at the barrier with both front paws, and growling at one of the infected people who was pounding at the invisible divider just inches away from Ron's feet. Ron gave a soft slap to the dog's side and whistled Marmalade's whistle.

The dog turned to look back at his master and Ron patted himself on the thigh. Marmalade obeyed and slunk over to Ron's side, still snarling a warning back at the dispersing gathering behind him. Ron ruffled the dog's fur with a deep sigh before bringing his finger-tip down sharply from ear level with a shake of the head.

The dog wagged its tail and licked Ron's cheek. Ron snorted a silent laugh through his nose and threw his arm around the dog as it sat down beside him. The woman sat up on her elbows and raised her eyebrows, impressed.

"Clever dog you got there."

Ron turned towards her and nodded.

"I'm Sergeant Kerry Kerry of the secret operations division of the service and if you laugh at my name I'll have to shoot you. I'm what you'd call a Muggle soldier."

Ron nodded and extended his hand to shake hers. A loud gunshot snapped in the air and they both ducked pointlessly. Some of the infected people were running away, some running at their attackers and a few remained to press against the barrier just feet away from the two of them on the ground.

"Are you a wizard?" Kerry asked him hopefully.

Ron nodded.

"You can do that dissipation thing?"

Ron frowned but knew what she meant and gave another nod.

"Fantastic," Kerry smiled as she got to her feet, "from what I understand you can do that from here. You need to go to the Ministry of Magic and report to them...how you'd report I don't know though."

Ron looked slightly affronted and raised his hands to inform her there was a Minister who spoke sign language and his own brother worked there as a interpreter but instantly realised the pointlessness of doing so and let his hands drop again.

Kerry was putting something into her gun and did something that made it click a few times. She rolled her shoulders before bracing the gun against her shoulder and preparing to jump back through the barrier to fire at the lingering infected people.

"I've got to go back and help my squad, tell your Ministry people we need back up here. Tell 'em we need a tank and some kind of chemical warfare suits." Kerry winced at Ron and gave an apologetic shrug, "Find a way to tell them yeah?"

Ron pointed back through the barrier reluctantly and shook his head.

"I will get your friends out!" Kerry said firmly, "But you can't go back in there. We've managed to save the grand total of one life since we arrived here and that's you. You are _not_ going back through."

Ron thumped himself so hard on the chest it sounded like a base drum and then fiercely crossed his arms over the other and dragged his little finger down his arm. Kerry threw a shrug of apology his way and turned to throw herself through the barrier. Ron jumped to his feet and scrambled in front of her. He tried to mouth words to her, something he hadn't done for years now, while gesticulating with his hands.

'_I'_ he jabbed himself in the chest with his finger, '_don't'_ Ron mouthed as he crossed his arms over his chest again with forceful determination, '_need'_ Ron dragged his thumb downward against his chest, '_help'_ he finished as he slammed his fist into his open palm and lifted it upwards.

A rapid burst of gunfire made them both jump and Marmalade didn't seem to like how close Ron was to the barrier and moved behind his legs to stand between his master and the watching infected people. A man's scream tore through the countryside and Kerry rose up on tiptoes to peer over Ron's shoulder.

"Oh shit!" she hissed.

Ron turned to see one of the soldiers being torn into by a mob of the infected and falling to the ground. The mob was being struck by bullets and hit the ground one by one. The soldier was still screaming. Kerry took a flying leap through the barrier and bellowed to the other two soldiers who were firing at the infected people.

"Kill him! You have to shoot him in the head before he changes!" She screeched as she shoved Ron aside before tripping over Marmalade, who was hidden behind Ron and seen much too late to avoid, and Ron grabbed her to keep her from falling and was pulled back through the barrier with her, the dog tangled between their legs and rolling through with them.

The infected people who had stayed to skulk around at the barrier made their move and Kerry swung her gun around to fire. As the leader of the shambling wild people took a bullet in the eye and fell backwards the second in line overtook and threw himself down at Ron. Marmalade barked but was trapped beneath Ron's arm and couldn't get out quick enough to defend him. Kerry hadn't managed to turn her gun to the oncoming attacker fast enough and Ron lifted his legs as the infected man descended upon him. He thrust both feet into the man's stomach and pushed as hard as he could, flipping the man right over them all and a full two feet behind them on the grass.

As skinny as Ron was he had some powerful thighs on him from all that Quidditch.

While Kerry kept firing her gun at the remaining infected people running at them, Ron jumped up to his feet and turned in readiness to face the man he'd propelled over him. The infected man was still slightly dazed and Ron took the extra couple of seconds he had to click his fingers at his dog and glare at him very sternly indeed.

He crossed his arms over each other and pulled them apart sharply. Marmalade cowered. Ron made a short forward movement with both hands, palms out as if pushing something heavy, he must have looked as if he meant business because Marmalade held himself back from standing before Ron or attacking the man on the ground before them.

The infected man got up. Kerry fired her gun twice behind them and two heavy thuds shook the ground. Ron knew he could rely upon her to watch his back. Ron felt a stone under his foot and toed it up out of the earth. The man grunted and lurched forward. Ron chipped the stone up and struck the man directly in the eye. Being a keeper came in handy at times like these, sometimes you have to make saves with your feet while holding onto an unsteady broom.

The man staggered and Ron bent down to feel for another stone or something bigger. A solid object tapped him on the shoulder and he saw that Kerry was offering him an extendable metal stick that looked like a thin beaters' bat. Ron took it and swung it behind him while running forward. He cracked the infected man across the back of the head and gave an even harder blow with the stick as he fell to the ground. The man wasn't moving but Ron knew the job hadn't yet been done and gripped the bat as hard as he could and brought it down with as much strength as he could muster.

The back of the man's head fell in and Ron leapt backwards to avoid the spatter as best he could. Marmalade made a worried sound and moved forward a little way but Ron slapped one hand flat on top of the back of the other and pushed them both down with a determined look. Marmalade obeyed the command immediately and sat down meekly.

Ron looked up just in time to see the last of the attacking infected people, what looked like a very fat woman, or a _very_ fat man with breasts, losing their whole head with the force of the gunshot. He cringed and turned away while Kerry made a disgusted noise and began to reload.

There were shouts from the other two soldiers and Ron looked up to see they were running from their infected friend. Ron guessed that they must have run out of bullets.

"I gave them the ammo, why are they out already?" Kerry was saying as she took aim and then cursed that her telescopic sight was covered with gore and she couldn't get a clean shot from that distance.

Ron broke into a run before he knew what he was doing. He cursed himself for not thinking to order Marmalade to stay and wait for him when he heard the soft padding of his paws behind him and the noisy panting. Ron tried to wave behind him but his pumping arms weren't signing clear enough and he gave up so he could pick up speed.

He had a tight hold of the beaters' bat Kerry had given him and could hear the Muggle soldier running behind him and shouting at him to let her take the lead.

"Get behind me Marcel!" She ordered, "I need to fire without worrying about hitting you."

For a brief second Ron waited for somebody called Marcel to say something before remembering the name Kerry had called him and falling back a little to let the gun-toting Muggle Auror take the lead.

"Stay right back and hold on to your dog!" Kerry bellowed before stopping, crouching and firing her gun at the group of infected people in pursuit of her friends.

As Ron turned around to grab Marmalade he saw that more infected people were coming out from the trees on either side of the clearing behind them. He gasped and turned to warn Kerry but she was still concentration of picking off the mob that had her two friends cornered. He took a deep breath and patted Marmalade on the back of the head. The dog looked up at him and he pointed from Marmalade's eyes to his own and back again.

Marmalade gave a little woof to confirm that he would watch Ron. Ron gripped the bat in his hand and scanned the open space before him, the trees on either side, he pictured the situation behind him in his mind's eye and all the while the number of infected people running at them grew. More shots sounded and he could hear running from behind him.

"Sarge, behind you!" one of the people was shouting.

"Oh shit!" Kerry said as she turned to see what Ron could see.

"We lost the ammo, Wells was carrying it and it weighed him down. They got him."

"I saw." Kerry said.

"Who's the bloke with the mutt?"

"One of the patients," Kerry answered and Ron became momentarily distracted from his thoughts to tut and huff about her disbelief that he wasn't a patient, "he can't talk but he can fight pretty fucking well."

Ron felt vaguely proud of himself for a second before clapping his hands together and crouching beside Marmalade and stroking him fondly. The dog wagged his tail. Ron hated to do this but it was the only way he could think of with their limited time.

"Marcel?" Kerry asked as she made another loud clicking sound with her gun.

Ron took in the lay of the land again, ignoring the three Muggles staring at him, and then held the dog's chin up so it was looking directly into Ron's face. He smiled and made a friendly clicking sound before pointing at Marmalade and flinging both hands out wide to their surroundings. He then pointed to the oncoming infected crowds and let the dog look at them all before turning back to face his master. Ron held up a little finger, pointed upwards, and then lowered that finger and raised his index finger. He shook it from side to side and moved his hand downwards.

Marmalade growled, the animal didn't need to be told that the infected people were bad news but seeing Ron physically describe them as such made him become protective of his master once more, Ron grabbed Marmalade's collar to make sure he didn't run off to try and scare them away.

"Sarge, what the fuck?" The female friend of Kerry hissed in confusion.

"The dog understands him, it's sign language, he's getting the dog to behave." Kerry explained, "Did Wells take the ammo with him when he got changed then?"

"Dunno." the woman shrugged.

"No, well if he did he dropped it. When he was chasing us he didn't have his gear on him," the man said.

Ron ignored the conversation and tapped the back of his wrist and then pointed to himself. Marmalade woofed and nuzzled into Ron's hand. Then Ron pointed to the dog and down to the back of his hand, waving his finger around in swirls and patterns, he waved away and then made a fist which he clutched with his other hand and pulled back to himself.

"We need to find that ammunition, Jim," Kerry said urgently.

Ron caught Marmalade as the dog sprang into his lap and hugged him briefly. They broke apart and Ron stood up again. He looked down at the dog and tapped himself on the chest with his thumbs twice. Marmalade barked and spun around on the spot once.

"We should get the civilian somewhere safe before we start fighting again though Sarge," the woman said anxiously.

Ron flung out his arm and Marmalade set off at a run towards the various pockets of infected that kept emerging from the trees. The dog was barking loudly and soon several staggering figures gave chase.

"What the hell did you just do Marcel?" Kerry exclaimed furiously.

Ron turned on her and jabbed himself in the chest and drew his arms sharply across each other before mouthing the name 'Marcel' angrily.

"I'm bloody sorry I don't know your name but you just sent that fucking animal out to track your missing friend didn't you?"

Ron shook his head.

"You just sent it into the bloody enemy. They'll rip it to shreds, you know that right?" Kerry said animatedly.

Ron scowled at her and then waved behind the three Muggles carelessly. He made a looking gesture and then mimed holding a gun and firing it before waving at the ground behind them again. Then he prodded himself in the chest again and pointed to the dog and the infected, who all seemed to be more focused on chasing the bright orange shape that was running circles around them rather than the four grubby people standing perfectly still some considerable way away, and nodded resolutely.

"A distraction Sarge," the man, Jim, was saying as he suddenly understood the plan.

"You've sent your dog to round them all up like sheep while we find the ammo and then you'll call him back so we can open fire on them all in the same place?" Kerry was saying, looking a lot more optimistic now.

Ron nodded confidently.

"It's a plan." the woman nodded eagerly.

"You be careful Mar...just remember what I said, yeah?" Kerry said to Ron seriously, "I don't want to have got somebody out only for them to come back in again and get killed."

Ron smiled at her and then drawing with his finger in the air in front of himself, first an 'R', then an 'O' and finally an 'N'.

"Ron?" Kerry confirmed and Ron nodded, "Good luck, Ron. If you get into any trouble get your arse up a tree or something okay?"

Ron nodded and waved them off before turning back to concentrate on the right time to instruct Marmalade to make a run for it.

He had to keep reminding himself to make his signs much bigger than usual so Marmalade could read them from all that way away. He also found that his whistles travelled very well and ended up whistling with different tones and making sweeping arm movements as if conducting a huge orchestra.

Marmalade had done a magnificent job of herding together all the fragmented groups of infected people into one large, exposed mass. Ron was so proud of his dog, and himself, for being able to work together so well without words. This had been Harry's real gift to him, Ron thought, not a fur ball to play with in the park but a companion with nothing but faith and understanding for everything Ron said, felt and needed. Harry had that faith and understanding too.

Ron's stomach suddenly turned over. What if Harry was in that mass of infected people waiting to be slaughtered? He shuddered. He couldn't be, not that it was impossible but that he just could not be one of those people, if he was then Ron had no idea what he would do. As intensely as he loved Hermione and his family there was always something between him and Harry that was more than friendship and more than brothers and more than anything you could put a label on.

It was almost like those twins that are born joined together but with him and Harry it wasn't a physical join.

_Crack!_

The first gunshot rang out and Ron panicked that they were firing before he'd got his dog out the way. He looked over to the Muggles and saw Kerry had fired into the air to get his attention. She waved at him and the others were all holding their guns at the ready. Ron waved back and looked back at Marmalade to give him the whistle to call him back in.

The sound of the gunshot had distracted Marmalade though. A few of the infected people had almost got hold of him and as Ron patted his hand against his legs furiously to call the animal back to him he saw that the handful of infected people were hot on its tail.

Ron drummed his palms against his thighs faster in his panic to summon Marmalade back to him and the dog picked up his pace. The Muggles began firing on the massed crowd and Ron heard Kerry bellowing at him over the noise.

"Ron! Get up a tree now, before they reach you!"

Ron looked around himself and then at the Muggle soldiers. He spun around to see how close Marmalade was to him and how close the infected pursuers were before looking to the trees. Ron was torn about what to do and looked back to Marmalade and banged his index fingers together frantically. Marmalade barked at him and then turned to look at the few infected people following him towards his worried master.

That was when Ron knew what the dog was about to do.

Ron's eyes widened and he crossed his arms back and forth over each other fearfully and let out a silent scream as he watched his dog turn around and bark at the figures chasing him. The dog had stopped so he didn't lead them any closer to Ron.

"Move it!" Kerry screeched to him while the diminishing crowd of infected people charged at the three Muggles, still firing at them, "Get out of reach now, Ron!"

This was everything that he hated. This was him running away. This was people taking care of him because he couldn't take care of himself and his dog...his friend, taking a huge risk in order to protect him. But he had to think clearly, there was nothing he could do to help Marmalade and he didn't want to be a distraction to the three people everybody in the clinic were dependant on. Maybe if he climbed a tree to safety Marmalade would focus on evading the infected rather than keeping them away from him.

With one last pained look at his dog running circles around the handful of disoriented infected people Ron ran for the nearest tree.

The gunfire was faster now, there wasn't a break between shots, and as Ron jumped for a low hanging branch and swung his long leg over it to pull himself up he heard some scarily fierce barking from Marmalade. Ron straddled the branch and edged along it as far as the limb would support his weight. He was now overhanging the edge of the clearing and could see Marmalade only just manage to dodge one of the savage infected men as he dived for the dog.

Ron arranged himself on the branch to make sure he was secure and wouldn't lose his balance and then let out a long whistle that went down note at the end and then back up quickly – Marmalade's whistle. The dog saw his master was safely up the tree and bounded towards him happily, leaving the bewildered infected group behind.

Ron smiled and rubbed his sweaty hands against his jeans as he watched his dog skid to a halt beneath the tree, wagging his tail enthusiastically. The infected were in pursuit once more but their disorientation had left them quite a way behind. He had time, Ron thought, he could get Marmalade to safety too.

Ron slapped his thighs and waved for Marmalade to jump to him. The dog barked and gave a playful half bounce beneath the limb of the tree Ron was perched. Ron huffed at the dog's lack of belief in his ability to climb trees and made a two handed gesture that was almost like scooping armfuls of air into his chest. Marmalade gave a grunt and leapt up. Ron flung himself flat against the branch to try and grab hold of Marmalade somehow but the dog was nowhere near.

Ron gave a desperate huff and peered through the branches to see how close the infected people were when he saw a pair of milky white eyes staring back at him through the leaves. He gasped and flinched as the unlikeliest of creatures to attack in the daytime flew at him. Ron ducked away from the bat and swung under the branch, legs hooked around the tree limb tightly. The bat flapped into the cover of the leaves but Ron could still hear it and knew he needed his hand free otherwise he'd be a sitting duck.

He dropped down from the tree.

Winded by his heavy landing slightly Ron got to his feet. Marmalade began to growl again. Ron could only assume he was trying to warn off the approaching group of infected people. The bat whizzed around and came back at Ron like a furry snitch. He took a swing at the bat and with his Muggle club thingy and whacked it hard into the trunk of the tree. He brought the end of the club down to destroy its head and turned to set about the oncoming attackers.

One man was practically in spitting distance when he was blown to one side by the blast of a gun. Ron slammed his club down into the skull to finish him off.

"Kerry behind you!" The Muggle woman screamed and three loud shots went off at once before there was a scream and some furious shouting.

Ron didn't take his eyes off the next infected person hurtling his way, a completely starkers woman caked in mud and dried blood. Ron drew in a tense breath and braced himself to hit a woman for the very first time.

_Thwack!_

The woman dropped immediately and blood trickled from her ear. Ron shook all over and tried not to be sick.

"We're out! The border, Ron head for the border before they realise we're out of ammo and come back!" Kerry hollered at him.

Ron chanced a glance over to them. There were only two standing. Kerry was waving for him to follow her to the border and the man, Jim, pointing his gun down at the Muggle woman's head and shooting her with his last bullet. Ron couldn't cope with this anymore, this was just pure slaughter, and he slapped his thigh to encourage Marmalade to follow him as he started on a shaky run towards the final infected person running at him. The dog ignored the instruction to heel and bolted forward to go for the man...the man in a similar uniform to Kerry and her friends.

It was the soldier who had been infected.

As Marmalade pounced the infected soldier made a grab for him and caught him around the collar. Ron threw himself forward and grabbed his dog by the hind legs. He pulled the dog back while the infected Muggle man pulled back on the collar and bared his teeth to tear into the furry neck. Ron curled his arm around Marmalade's belly and pulled back, willing his dog not to try to bite the infected man.

The collar slipped over the dog's head and Ron staggered backwards and fell with great force upon his back. His head struck something hard and the last thing he saw as everything became dark was his dog, loyal to the last, standing over his body and snarling at the approaching threat.


	15. Nothing As It Seems

**Nothing As It Seems**

Harry was about to bring the rock down when Ron stirred slightly. Marmalade lurched forwards to snap at the air between the two of them but appeared to be greatly reluctant to move away from Ron. The dog had one of his hind legs between Ron's head and shoulder and the other just underneath his outstretched arm while both front paws were planted on either side of Ron's right leg.

Harry had no clue what the right thing to do was. Marmalade didn't show the main symptom of being infected but he'd never been aggressive like this before and he'd _never_ shown Harry anything but absolute trust. Ron's body shifted a little and there was a noise that was like a groan but without any sound behind it.

"Ron?" Harry said, trying to keep his voice at a level tone and not set marmalade off.

Ron's eyelids fluttered but didn't open.

"Ron don't move," Harry warned, still not sure about the dog standing over the prostrate body on the grass, "lie still."

Ron's head tossed to one side and his lips moved. As ever his first instinct when waking was to grumble. That painful second when he'd forget he had no use for words any more. That had to mean he was all right didn't it? That had to mean he was still Ron. Harry hadn't seen an infected person try to talk once yet.

Harry decided that attacking Marmalade would only ensure that he and Ron or both of them got hurt. If the dog was safe and simply on high alert from whatever _had_ knocked Ron out then Harry's backing off would only serve to convince the animal he wasn't a threat.

Silently pleading to Merlin, Harry lowered the rock and stooped over to set it on the ground gently. Marmalade growled warily, but without the same ferocity as before. Harry gulped and took a step back. He held his hands open in front of him and took a second step back. He could barely hear the growl but he could feel it, the rumble so deep that it became a sensation instead of a sound, and tried to remind himself not to stare at the dog without blinking as he felt sure he'd seen a nature programme on telly once that talked about how animals take sustained eye contact as an act of aggression.

Harry felt a little more confident now and dropped down to his knees, resting his palms on his lap and keeping his head low.

"Marmalade," he said softly, "it's me, Harry. I'm Harry and you know I won't hurt Ron."

The dog's ears perked up a little and he gave a small gruff woof.

In a wave of sudden understanding Harry finally got what it was that was bothering the dog. Harry might look like himself but he didn't smell right. He was covered in the blood of other people, other animals, and he was barely dressed with filthy, sweaty skin on show. Marmalade didn't trust what he saw. Maybe the animal had seen too many friendly looking people suddenly turn into monsters.

Harry hoped the friendly looking people weren't actual friends. Harry suddenly felt the twinge in his heart as he wondered where Hermione and Neville were and why they weren't with Ron. Harry licked his lips and decided to try something else to prove he was who he said.

Lifting his hand, very slowly, he pointed two fingers at his temple and then pointed them down into his chest. He lifted his other hand and wiped one palm across the other. Marmalade stared at him and did nothing. Harry patted himself in the chest.

"Harry," he said imploringly to the dog, "it's really me."

Ron shifted again beneath the dog's legs and his hand rose to rub at his head. Marmalade saw Harry leaning forward towards him and stepped closer, ensuring that he remained between the two of them. Biting his lip Harry ever so slowly lifted his hand towards the dog's face. He made sure to keep his movements slow and steady and offered the dog the back of his hand to sniff.

"It's me, I promise," Harry whispered, "please let me take care of Ron. He's hurt."

Ron's face crumpled up and he forced his eyes open with a painful squint directly into the sunlight.

"Ron lay still!" Harry said urgently, not wanting Marmalade to become overwhelmed with protectiveness while his hand was so close to the dog's mouth.

Marmalade looked back at Ron and gave the slightest wag of his tail before turning back to Harry and letting the tail fall still once more. The big black nose sniffed the air around Harry's knuckles and then nudged the underside of his hand to make him turn it over. Harry did as he was urged and Marmalade's wet nose smeared against Harry's rough palm.

"Okay?" Harry asked the dog with hope.

Ron made a hissing noise between his teeth and Marmalade immediately spun around to paw at his arm with a worried whimper. Harry took that to mean the dog trusted him and crawled forward to slide his arm beneath Ron's body and lift him into his lap.

"Ron, Ron mate it's me, Harry. It's gonna be alright."

Ron's blue eyes widened a little more and one corner of his mouth curled upwards. He lifted his hands before him, palms facing the sky, and moved them in small circles before waving a lazy hand towards Harry.

"I was hiding," Harry answered query on where he had been, "what the hell are _you_ doing out here?"

Ron snorted before grimacing and holding his head. Harry slid his fingers through Ron's hair and felt a bump on the back of Ron's head. Ron blinked his vision clear and put his hand over his eyes and moved his head from left to right and back again before shoving Harry in the chest.

"I told you not to come after me you great prat!" Harry laughed and scolded his best friend as the redhead struggled to sit himself up without Harry's assistance.

Ron waved a dismissive hand at Harry as if his opinion on the matter was invalid and then grinned at him wearily and grabbed fistfuls of thin air and pulled them into his chest, nodding towards Harry and letting out a deep shaky sigh of relief.

"Well I wouldn't say you lying unconscious on the grass was _you_ finding _me_ mate!" Harry laughed, "But I'm glad we found each other, and very glad your bloody dog didn't tear my head off. You've got a hell of a guard dog there Ron."

Ron reached for Marmalade and ruffled the fur between his ears and smiled. He stroked both thumbs down his puffed out chest and gestured towards the dog. Harry heaved a sigh of relief and quickly glanced around him to make sure the coast was still clear before looking back at Ron and offering him a hand as he got to his feet.

"So what happened? Did you fall?"

Ron pointed behind him at a rock buried deep into the soil right where his head had been resting.

"Ouch!" Harry winced in sympathy, "You alright to move?"

Ron batted Harry's fussing hand away with his own and rolled his eyes before nodding. He too paused to look around at the open space, clear of everything but some dead bodies here and there. Ron frowned and swirled his hands before him once again before slapping three fingers against his palm, pointing at his little finger, banging his fist on top of the other twice, banging one finger against his open palm and then hooking his two little fingers together.

"What Muggles?" Harry gasped, "Was that who I heard shooting? Were there Muggles here?"

Ron nodded before holding up four fingers, scrunching up his face and then shaking his head and holding up just two.

"Only _two_!" Harry exclaimed.

Ron lowered his head and peered at Harry through his copper fringe. He made a sharp movement from the left hand side of his chest to the right and then holding up both hands and wriggling his fingers while drawing his hands apart from each other.

"So there were lots of Muggle soldiers and now there are only two?" Harry said, crestfallen.

Ron lifted his head and looked around himself hopelessly and spread his arms while shrugging.

"You didn't see what happened to the last two?" Harry asked as his shoulders fell.

Ron shook his head and then set about explaining to Harry that he'd been told by the leader that the only way to cross the barrier was with one of them and the charm stopped working if they were dead or infected so they had to find the two Muggle soldiers alive if they wanted to get people out of the clinic and across the border to safety. This had gone from being impossible to being doable. If they had managed to find each other in the midst of all this and they were both alive and well then who was to say those two Muggles weren't still alive either?

Well the two dozen dead bodies around them at that moment said a remarkable amount without saying anything at all.


	16. Needle In The Hay

**Needle in the Hay**

Ron had led Harry over to the spot he'd last seen the two surviving Muggle soldiers and spotted something on the ground amongst the blood. Just as he reached to pick the object up Harry grabbed him by the arm and yanked it back.

"Don't touch the blood Ron!"

Ron raised his eyebrows and looked Harry's torso up and down before glancing down to his own blood-spattered t shirt and up again.

"Look I know we've both been lucky so far but that doesn't mean we can take chances." Harry said fearfully, "I've sat in a thorn bush and got a load of holes in my arse so I'm planning on avoiding sitting down on anything blood drenched until I know I've healed. Have you even checked your hands to see if you're cut?"

Ron scoffed at Harry before jabbing himself in the chest and then pointing at his head with his thumb.

"Oh you'd know would you?" Harry said crossly.

He pulled on Ron's arm and began a close examination of Ron's hand while Ron tutted and tried to yank his arm free. When Harry was satisfied he let Ron's arm go and then lunged for the other one to check that hand too. Ron huffed and touched his little finger to his chin and pulled it away sharply before knocking on the side of Harry's head.

Harry didn't care what Ron called him, he felt his stomach drop and his teeth grit as soon as he saw he had been right to stop his friend picking something up from the middle of a blood spattered area. He waved Ron's hand before his face angrily.

"There! What's that?"

Ron rolled his eyes and waggled the fingers of his trapped hand. Harry scowled at him and pointed to one particular fingertip and Ron's face dropped and quickly blushed.

"What is _that_ Ron?"

Ron drew in a breath and moved away from the bloodied thing in the grass and pulled his arm free from Harry. He shrugged and held up his finger, the one with the tiny nick on it, and then made a lazy chopping gesture into the 'v' shape between his thumb and forefinger before poking at his sore finger.

"A splinter?" Harry said, folding his arms across his chest, "And you were just going to plunge your hand into that mess were you?"

Ron suddenly bubbled up with the worst kind of fury he had, frustrated and embarrassed into acting rashly, and he pulled the too small blood stained t shirt off his skinny white body and wrapped it around his hand before giving Harry a sarcastic smirk and asking him if he was satisfied.

"Is that why you came out to find me Ron? To piss me off and worry me grey?" Harry snatched the t shirt away from Ron and searched it for a clean spot.

Ron scowled and made a pinching motion away from his throat before banging the sides of his hands together in an 'x' and dragging his splayed fingers across his forehead and waving his hands away from his head with a huff.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have bothered!" Harry snapped back as he tore a clan strip off the t shirt.

Ron waved a hand at Harry with narrowed eyes and twisted lips and brought his hand to his armpit.

"Well you're an arsehole!" Harry shouted back.

Ron slammed his palm flat on top of his tightly balled up fist and them pointed at Harry with his finger as if it was his wand.

"Fuck you too!" Harry scowled before grabbing Ron's extended finger and forcibly wrapping the piece if fabric around it and tying it securely in place.

He could tell Ron was burning to throw back a retort but he couldn't say anything while he had lost the use of his hand _and_ Harry wasn't looking at him. Harry took his time, hoping they would both calm down. When he released Ron's hand he received a shove in the back and Marmalade barked at them both, thinking they were play-fighting without him.

"All I want is to keep you safe!" Harry roared, "That's all I ever wanted to do you utter dickhead!"

Ron glared at him, absolutely furious. He punched himself in the chest, over his heart, with a fist with an index finger pointing outward.

"What d'you mean why?" Harry exclaimed in disbelief.

Ron repeated the gesture before making a gripping motion with both hands and pulling them downward. He then hit the side of his hand with his palm and dragged his little finger down the outside of his arm. Ron hit himself on the chest and shook his head while running his thumb down his breast bone before laying his palm out flat and then making a gathering gesture across it with the other hand towards himself.

"Ron, I didn't say..." Harry's anger deflated a little as he realised the problem.

Ron twirled his fingers in the air on either side of his head before making a sweeping gesture around him and then tapping his head and cupping his hand around his balled fist and lifting it as if it was a huge burden.

"Everyone?" Harry blinked sadly, "You feel like everyone treats you that way?"

Ron stepped towards Harry and poked him in the chest. Harry swayed on the spot a little bit. He linked his hands and made a circular motion. He swiped his hand across his palm and then held it to his heart as if it hurt him to suggest that Hermione was on his list of unwanted protectors.

"Ron, us and your family...we don't mean to make you feel as if you...that you can't... We all know you can manage on your own and don't need us to help you. Nobody thinks you're weak or useless or pathetic."

Ron sighed and shook his head, crashing his little fingers together in front of him. Harry moved forward and grabbed Ron by the biceps.

"But you have to know this is our problem and not yours!"

Ron slapped his own hands down on Harry's shoulders and leaned in to look his friend in the eye. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but closed it again and bit his lip, head dropping with a sad sigh.

"I know," Harry said softly before pulling Ron in towards him and giving his best mate a bracing hug.

It felt good to feel Ron slapping him on the back and hugging him too.

"I know." Harry said again.

Marmalade jumped at the both of them and they laughed, lowering one hand each to include him in the hug, and then they suddenly felt very self conscious about both being bare chested and cuddling in the open. They jumped away from each other and Harry cleared his throat while Ron ran a hand through his hair and examined his new bandage.

"Not too tight or too loose is it?" Harry asked as he used the rest of the torn t shirt to pick up the object and wipe it clean of congealing blood.

Ron shook his head and gave Harry a thumbs up before crouching beside him and miming a gun with his thumb and forefinger.

"Yeah," Harry nodded as he found out how to check for bullets, "an empty gun."

He threw the weapon down and looked around himself. Ron tapped the side of his head thoughtfully and then pointed to the woods. Harry frowned, he hadn't fared any better in the woods than out of them and at least he could see attackers coming at him in the open.

"You think they would have hidden in there?" Harry asked.

Ron considered the question for a moment before curling his index finger against the other then uncurling to point at the tip of, he curled it again to slap it two times into his palm and the uncurled it once more to slap it flat against his palm with the finger pointing to the curve between finger and thumb.

"Who's Kerry?" Harry said, eyebrows crumpling together in confusion.

Ron held his hand up flat before him and moved it sharply across his chest. He pointed from his mouth outward and then curved back to point into his chest before clutching at the air before him and pulling it down in a climbing motion. He then clutched his elbow and waggled the fingers of the supported arm.

"She told you to climb a tree?" Harry blinked and Ron gave a single nod, "Yet when I found ya you were on the floor out in the open?"

Ron lowered his head bashfully. He laid his left hand flat and then stood two fingers like legs upon it and then slapped them down flat.

"You fell a bloody long way Ron!"

Ron smirked and glanced up to catch Harry's eye.

"Not one for hiding and playing it safe are you?" Harry smiled.

Ron snorted and raised his eyebrows while pointing at Harry and then made two fists with extended index fingers and banged one on top of the other.

_You can talk!_

"I'm the Chosen One; I'm supposed to be like that."

Ron arched an eyebrow before pointing at himself and shrugging.

"You? You're the one chosen to save the Chosen One."

They both sniggered but were interrupted by Marmalade going on sudden alert. The dog's ears pricked up and he looked in the direction of the clinic. Ron and Harry both followed the dog's eye line and listened carefully. That was when they heard it, the sound of breaking glass and a scream.

With or without their way through the barrier or any weapon of any kind they had to go back to the clinic and get those people out.


	17. A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

**A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall**

Harry charged at the door to the clinic and threw himself at it with his shoulder. The door didn't give an inch. Ron rolled his eyes, as if the concept of Harry being able to break down a barricaded door was the most ridiculous thing in the world, and grabbed him by the elbow to pull him around to the side of the clinic.

"Ron, where are we going you nutter?" Harry panted.

They heard another scream and more smashing from inside the clinic and pressed themselves flat against the wall just in case an infected person was about to come crashing through one of the upstairs windows. Marmalade was trying to bark but one of Ron's large strong hands was clamping the animal's jaw shut.

"How come they got in but we can't?" Harry frowned.

Ron appeared to be thinking something through to himself before turning to look at Harry and crumple his face up. He obviously hadn't been listening.

"If they got in there's got to be an open door or something, how did the infected get inside Ron?" Harry repeated his question impatiently.

Ron nodded and looked down at Marmalade quickly before staring at Harry with that look he had first seen on those bright blue eyes when he was eleven and Ron was about to explain what had to be done to beat McGonagall's chess board. Harry hated and feared that look.

"Whatever you're thinking, no!" Harry said sternly.

Ron gave a tut and began to explain himself. He put the back of his hands flat together and pulled them apart horizontally in front of him. Harry was already disagreeing with the plan. The sign for separate was not his favourite sign in the world and especially not in these circumstances. Ron was continuing his gesture outwards though, one hand moving clockwise and the other anticlockwise to meet it, index fingers coming together.

"I go one way and you the other and we meet on the other side and see if either of us found a way in?" Harry asked, wary to commit to the plan just yet, that look still in Ron's eyes and unsettling him beyond measure.

Ron nodded and made a gripping motion away from himself and waved down to Marmalade before holding the fingers of his left hand with his right and then pointing at Harry.

"I'm not taking the dog with me!" Harry said simply.

Ron's shoulders fell and he rolled his eyes. He waved an arm at Harry impatiently before pointing a clawed hand away from his mouth and then nodding down at the dog. He pointed his index fingers downward and moved them back and forth alternately.

"He did pretty well so far without somebody shouting at him to control him Ron," Harry said as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "I think it's better if he goes with you."

Ron let out an exasperated sigh and then his body stiffened at the sound of screaming and shouting coming from inside the clinic once again. He pointed at the wall of the clinic and glared at Harry. Harry knew they couldn't waste time with this argument but he also knew Ron was up to something and didn't want to let him get away with whatever it was.

"We're just running around the clinic in opposite directions right? That'll take us all of what, twenty seconds? You may as well take Marmalade with you. He'll want to follow you anyway."

Ron clicked his fingers to get Marmalade's attention and sharply pointed from the dog to Harry. Marmalade cocked his head and didn't wag his tail. Ron repeated the sign and Marmalade lowered his head and stood at Harry's side.

"Oh great, he thinks you're angry with him now!" Harry huffed.

There was a loud crash inside the clinic and Ron made a fist and put a hand underneath it to lift it towards him before turning towards the wall of the clinic and lifting it back out towards the building.

_Help me help them._

Before Harry could open his mouth Ron had turned and set off on his run around the clinic and Harry swore under his breath and set off with the reluctant dog in the other direction.

"It's okay Marmalade," Harry panted, "we'll meet him on the other side in two ticks."

They ran as fast as they could, scanning the walls of the clinic for any way inside and seeing nothing, and as Harry turned the final corner his heart sank with the dread of inevitability as he saw that Ron wasn't there running towards him.

"You bastard," Harry panted under his breath as he pumped his arms harder and turned the corner to see the rear wall and the last place Ron could have been...and see that he wasn't there either, "You fucking _bastard!"_

Marmalade knew something was wrong as well and was bounding ahead of Harry as they sprinted the length of the rear wall and around the corner to see the place they had both set out from and no Ron there either. Harry's head suddenly screamed at him for not thinking as calmly and clearly as Ron had been doing. He was so busy being worried and argumentative he didn't see the bloody cold logic the way Ron had done.

Ron got out of that building somehow so he was bound to be able to get back in the same way and Harry never thought about that. He'd sent Harry and his dog on a pointless sprint around the building so he didn't have to take them inside with him. He didn't want to have them trapped as well as Neville and Hermione.

Harry pounded his fist against the wall and Marmalade began to whimper at having lost his master.

"You sod, you utter utter SOD!" he bellowed and tried to smash his way through one of the boarded up windows but he knew that the Aurors and staff in the clinic would have done too good a job at barricading every way in they knew of.

Marmalade suddenly made an annoyed gruff sound and charged off back around the corner, back the way Ron had run, and Harry followed. He realised that the dog had escaped the clinic the same way Ron had so the dog must know how and where he got back in. As Harry skidded around the corner he saw the dog clawing and tearing at a bushy fallen branch that was leaning against the wall.

Harry drew nearer and saw there was a half boarded up window behind it. He tore the branch away and saw the other half of the window was broken open.

"Gotcha!"

* * *

Ron ran for the hidden window and pleaded with fate to let him get through and have time to hide it again before Harry and Marmalade came round looking for him.

He couldn't call Marmalade off if there was fighting going on inside and there was no way to stop him biting the infected if he saw them attacking people or going for Ron. He also knew that he couldn't concentrate on finding Hermione, Neville and the others while he was worried about watching Harry' back.

If he lived through this Harry was going to bloody kill him.

He sidestepped all the way along the narrow wall space and chanted reassurances to himself soundlessly as he fought to ignore all the unseen things brushing against his bare back and chest. There were thumping footsteps and the sound of splintering wood. Ron could only assume that somebody had been infected from inside. Maybe one of the bodies upstairs wasn't quite dead. Maybe one of the patients panicked and tried to escape, got infected from the spilled blood spattered around upstairs, and things escalated from there.

There was no way an infected person was going to be stopped by that clear plastic partition that was for sure. There was no such thing as a safe zone any more, just clean people and infected people, and Ron wasn't going to stop at anything to eliminate the threat to his friends, colleagues and his patients.

He fumbled all the way along until he reached the spot he knew was the small hole he'd crawled out through and his heart began to pound so fast it made him dizzy. Why hadn't he thought of that before he crawled back inside? Of course they would have taken action after he'd escaped and they'd seen the chink in their armour.

The hole in the wall had been blocked off.

Ron began to panic. He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, his shortening breaths and limited space making him feel as if he was being crushed between the walls, and when Ron heard a bloodcurdling roar followed by a gurgling sound he lost his composure altogether.

He began kicking at the blocked off hole on the wall and then smashing at the wall surrounding it. While the actual hole had been plugged the weakened wall surrounding it wasn't reinforced at all and soon light began filtering through. Ron's kicking became wilder and before he knew what was happening he was kicking, punching and shouldering his way through the crumbling wall.

Finally there was a hole large enough for his narrow body to squirm through and, choking on dust, he forced his way through as fast as he could. His need to get out of that wall was powered by adrenaline and confusion. He finally slithered through and slammed down onto the floor hard. He sputtered and crawled along the floor for a couple of feet before getting up and shaking the dust and cobwebs from his hair.

"Stay behind me!" Nurse Stour's voice sounded terrified but brave, she was obviously protecting her patients on the other side of the door.

Ron quickly looked around the room for something to use as a weapon. He needed something effective that wouldn't run out like those useless Muggle guns. He forced open a cupboard and saw various brightly coloured plastic objects before spotting an 'ecclectric' iron. He grabbed it and tore the chord with its dangling plug off and threw it to the floor. He felt the weight of the iron as it sat in his hand and he changed his grip so he had a better hold on it for striking infected people in the head. It would do.

Ron looked up at the closed door and took a deep breath – it was time to eradiate the infection.


	18. The Iron Fist

**The Iron Fist**

Stour was holding an infected Auror back with a crutch while three of the patients cowered behind her.

"When I say run," the trembling woman said as they were backed into a wall by the approaching man, salivating with foamy blood, "all of you run and don't look back okay? Don't wait for me."

The infected Auror lunged forward and Stour jabbed him backwards, poking the end of the crutch into his chest, while the patients screamed and ducked.

"But Nurse Stour we can't leave y-" one of them was sputtering just as the door behind the infected Auror burst open and a flash of silver in the shape of a 'V' came crashing down onto the back of the Auror's head.

The Infected man fell face first onto the floor and Stour squeaked as she saw a heavily panting and sparsely clothed Ron Weasley standing before her gripping her iron so tightly she couldn't tell his white fingers from the white plastic of the handle.

"Ron?" Stour asked warily, still holding the crutch before her to keep him at his distance.

He looked so unlike himself, so wild and animal like. His skin was bruised and filthy, there was dried blood all over him and he looked just like one of them...like one of the infected, only she looked him in the eyes and still saw her wonderful compassionate therapist staring back at her.

"You're not infected?" She asked, almost pleading for it to be true.

He shook his head slowly and turned his head sharply on hearing a crash and a scream not so far away. He looked back at Stour and lunged forward at her. She cried out in shock but didn't strike out at him. The redhead appeared to be so intensely focused he was possessed but she still found herself trusting him completely and let him drag her to the doorway he had come out of and shoved her inside the room he had vanished from the day before.

Turning back to the terrified patients and nodded over his shoulder for them to join her inside and they ran past him and inside. As Ron leaned forward to pull the door closed he put his finger to his lips and shushed them. The patients all nodded frantically and Stour gave him a sad smile.

"You be careful," she said...she _ordered_.

Ron gave a single nod and closed the door.

* * *

Neville had been doing his very best to protect Hermione since Ron had gone missing but now he had lost her in the confusion and was panicking desperately. The flow of the crowd was going one way and he was pushing through them in the other direction. He felt sure Hermione would be in the thick of things. Her emotions and her rage at losing Ron had taken away her rationality.

Auror Kelly was straddling the back of one of the infected and trying to decapitate him with a piece of cheese wire from the kitchens. The infected man grabbed her leg and sank his teeth into the inside of her thigh. Blood started to flow and Kelly started to scream. She pulled the wire so tight that the head came popping off and bounced once on the floor. The headless body and the bleeding Auror Kelly fell backwards and landed with a thud.

Kelly pushed the body off her and looked at her thigh before turning her gaze towards Neville with tear filled eyes.

"Kill me," she pleaded weakly, "kill me before I..."

Auror Kelly's rich brown eyes began to cloud over and Neville grabbed a brass carriage clock from the mantle and brought it crashing down on top of her head. Kelly's eyes closed and she lay still. Neville gagged a little at what he'd just done before remembering Hermione and throwing the clock down to the floor and jumping over the two bodies to continue his search for his friend.

* * *

Harry curled his fingers around the broken edge of the wall and something hit his hand hard while he heard shouting and screaming. He swore and withdrew his hand to blow on his sore knuckles.

"Oh Merlin they're coming in from outside now!"

"No!" Harry yelled, "I'm clean, I work here!"

"Potter?" a familiar voice called out hesitantly.

"Nurse Stour?" Harry replied in a similar fashion as he took a chance and peered around the wall and saw his boss and a small group of petrified patients all holding up cleaning utensils as weapons, ready to attack him.

"Oh Harry," Stour said as she dropped a crutch and pulled him through the wall and into a relieved hug, "you scared us then, even more than Ron!"

"Ron," Harry said as he pulled away, "where is he?"

"He killed one of the infected Aurors who had us all cornered and then shoved us all in here and told us to be quiet." Stour said before pointing over her shoulder to the closed door, "He's out there."

Harry nodded and quickly searched the room for something to use as a weapon while Marmalade scrambled through the wall and wagged his tail on seeing Stour.

"Oh you too?" Stour smiled weakly, "There's a good boy."

"Is he safe?" One of the patients asked nervously while Stour stroked the dog with a shaking hand.

"Yeah," Harry nodded as he gave up his search in the store cupboards and grabbed a broken table lamp from the shelf and tore away the floral shade before brandishing it like a small club, "will you do me a favour and make sure he stays that way? Keep him in here with you while I go out there and help out."

"We'll watch him," a young female patient said as she tied an electrical chord she'd found on the floor around Marmalade's neck like a collar and lead, "I'll feel safer with him protecting us too."

"He's great but don't let him bite anyone, he's obedient so shout at him if he looks like he's going to bite anybody who's infected right?"

The girl nodded.

Harry nodded back grimly and made a move for the door.

"Harry," Stour called after him, he paused and looked over his shoulder, "Ron went that way" she pointed to the right "...if you were wondering."

He smiled and turned the handle.

* * *

Hermione clubbed Auror Kenwood in the back of the head with the broken table leg she had been using and tried not to feel any kind of satisfaction in doing it. He had been so callous about Ron she hadn't liked him at all.

She kicked his body as she stepped over him to crouch beside Sam as he lay unconscious on the floor.

"Sam?" She patted the side of his face frantically and hoped he wasn't going to open white eyes and tear into her, "Sam wake up, I need you to get up, I can't carry you."

The Magic Sapper groaned and rolled onto his side but his eyes still didn't open. Hermione heard a wet, throaty snarl behind her and spun around to smash Phillips in the face with all her might as he ran towards her. The man stumbled backwards and she swung again.

The man's nose broke and was practically flat to one side of his face but he just kept coming. Hermione hit him in the chest to try and throw him off balance and then gave him a hard clout about the side of the head but still he didn't fall.

"Oh why won't you just die?" Hermione screeched before bringing the table leg down from above but Phillips grabbed her wrists and held them and the improvised club over their heads.

Hermione's eyes were wide and Phillips' were milky white and they stared into each other for a moment before the stronger of the two pushed hard and Hermione fell backwards onto the floor. She lost her grip on the table leg and the savage former human being dropped onto his hands and knees over her and slurped his mouthful of saliva sickeningly before baring his teeth and lunging for her throat.

Hermione screamed and bucked beneath him and flinched at the deep thunking sound that stopped her attacker and sent him flying to one side and slamming onto the floor. She gasped and crawled away backwards while Sam took another swing and caved the back of the man's head in with the fat end of the table leg.

The man lay dead and both Sam and Hermione breathed heavily and stared at the bloody mess before them before Sam staggered and fell against the wall holding his head. Hermione jumped to her feet and ran to him.

"Sam? Are you alright?"

"I really hit my head didn't I?" he winced.

"Well actually no...I did!" she cringed, "I'm sorry, you took me by surprise and I just..."

"S'okay," Sam smiled before handing her back the table leg club, "have it back, I'm seeing double. You're lucky I hit him at all."

She took the table leg back and pulled Sam's arm over her shoulder.

"Let's get you somewhere safe."

"Safe? You're having a laugh aren't you?" Sam chuckled weakly.

* * *

Ron pinned a hysterical Abigail to the wall and tried to make her look at him.

"Gemmeout! Gemmeout! Gemmeout! I wannagohome gemmeout!" she screeched.

Ron gripped Abigail's shoulders and shook her roughly. She slapped at him and tried to squirm away but he wasn't going to let her go. If she was let loose in the clinic in this state she'd be torn to pieces within seconds.

"Get off me you animal!" She wailed and Ron took the wallop she delivered to the side of his face as best he could and then pulled her into his body and hugged her tightly.

Her whole body went rigid and he rubbed her back and held her tight. Soon he felt her arms curl around him loosely and heard her timid voice through his hair.

"Ron?"

He nodded against the side of her head and she pulled back from him to look at his face.

"Ron?" He nodded again and she grabbed his face between both her hands and looked into his eyes, "You're not going to hurt me?"

Ron shook his head firmly. Abigail looked down at his body and began shaking.

"What did they do to you? Where did you go?"

He drew in a deep breath and put his finger to his lips to silence her. She pressed her lips together and nodded with a slight squeak. He took her hand and led her along the corridor, ensuring she stayed behind him at all times, until a wild looking man dressed in the clinic's porter uniform came running at them with limbs flailing.

Abigail screamed behind her hand and Ron let her go and ran at the man with the iron raised and smashed the blunt point of the 'v' down on top of his head. The infected porter fell to the floor right away and Ron slammed three more blows to the back of his head with the heavy Muggle contraption before wiping the blood off on the rug and striding back to take Abigail's hand again and pull her along with him to get her to safety.

"Oh this is horrible," she was babbling to herself, "this is so horrible. Please don't let them get me."

Ron put his arm around her and pulled her along at a quicker pace before drawing in a sharp breath and slamming them both flat against the wall behind a thick curtain, his hand clamping over Abigail's mouth just as three infected people ran past them and deeper into the clinic.

Abigail whimpered into Ron's hand and clung to his side. Ron kept them both pressed flat against the wall, partially obscured by the curtain, and another set of footsteps came pounding by. They both held their breath and closed their eyes but the footsteps kept on going and Ron cracked his eyelid open to see the back of somebody with no shirt and caked in mud, blood and dust sprinting the same way as the larger group of infected people had gone.

Ron gulped and made sure his grip on the iron and Abigail was as firm as ever and dashed out with them from behind the curtain to run back to the room he'd left Stour.

"M-My room, my secret passage!" Abigail said as she realised where they were going.

Ron nodded and grabbed a poker from the nearby fireplace and forced it into her hand. He pointed down the corridor to the room and then at Abigail before directing her down to the door and mining going in. Then he shaded his hand over his eyes and hunched his shoulders to try to indicate hiding.

"You're not coming with me?" Abigail asked him worriedly.

He pointed at his bloodied iron and then back the way the infected people had run and shrugged.

"Don't leave me alone Ron." Abigail pouted and tugged at Ron's elbow.

He gestured back down to the room and then pointed from his head and downward before making a movement that was like when his mother used to count the heads of her children when they were little. Abigail frowned and shook her head. Ron licked his lips and mouthed the word '_people_' as slowly and clearly as he could before pointing back to the door.

"That's where you're putting people?" Abigail said with a hopeful smile that this meant Ron would be back with more people and it was a safe place for her to be.

Ron nodded and gave her a suggestive nudge in the right direction. She bit her lip nervously and set off at a jog before turning and calling back to him under her breath.

"Don't leave us Ron, we'll wait for you."

He smiled and winked. Abigail turned the door handle and met with some resistance. As she called through that she was safe and Ron had bought her there he turned and ran back into the thick of things.

He had to keep at it until he found Hermione and Neville.


	19. The Thick of It

**The Thick of It**

Neville gripped the rug and gave it a good hard tug. The three infected people who were about to break through a door and get to some screaming patients and staff all tumbled over like skittles. He ran at the three on the floor and swung a kick at the nearest ones head. As another moved to sit up Neville grabbed a bookcase and pulled it over so it came crashing down on top of all three of them.

He turned to the door and pounded on it.

"Hermione? Hermione it's Neville, are you in there?"

The door opened and an arm came out to pull him inside. He stumbled as he passed through the doorway and the people inside slammed the door shut again and began to barricade it.

"Is she here? Is the Healer I came with in here?" Neville asked frantically.

"No it's just us," one of the nurses said as she held a towel to an unconscious Auror Jacobs heavily bleeding head, "you're the first person to come to door who wasn't one of them for ages."

Neville turned and headed for the door.

"I have to go back out there and find her, she's on her own with them."

"No!" a male porter put both his hands on Neville's chest and held him back while the barricade went up behind him, "We need you in here, we've got people hurt and you're a Healer."

"So are you!" Neville snapped, "and you're trained to do this stuff without wands. I have to get back out there; there are people still alive who need help."

As soon as Neville finished speaking he heard pounding footsteps followed by a deep male voice crying out and choking on thick blood before thudding heavily to the floor. A deep, almost black, pool of blood began to seep beneath the door slowly.

"There is no way on earth we are opening that door again Healer Longbottom." The porter said darkly.

* * *

Harry Battled his way down the corridor with nothing but his gore drenched table lamp and still hadn't found Ron, Hermione or Neville yet. On the plus side he hadn't seen their bodies or any infected people who resembled them yet either.

He heard a man shouting and ran into what used to be a treatment room to see a broad chested Auror being crushed behind a bed on wheels he had used to put between himself and two infected attackers.

Harry charged forwards and crashed the base of the lamp into the back of one of the infected men's skulls. The man fell to the ground and the lamp lodged itself deep in the shattered bone. The other infected man turned on Harry and his heart fell as he recognised it as one of Ron's patients. Well, it had once been a patient; he was long gone now and replaced by this disease.

Harry reached around him as he backed into the wall and curled his fingers around the cane a potted plant was climbing up. He jerked the cane free and thrust it up through the infected patient's neck and into his brain. The broad chested Auror shoved the bed away from himself and pulled up a loose floorboard. He stood over the gurgling infected man and slammed the plank into the top of his head, silencing him for good.

"Potter?" the Auror said in disbelief.

"The room you lost Ron in?" Harry said without pause for introductions, "there are people, clean people, in there. If you find anyone you're to get them into that room and keep the infected out okay?"

"Since when are you in charge?" the Auror snapped gruffly.

"I'm not, Ron is," Harry said defiantly, "and he's got Muggle soldiers on the outside who can get us through the magical border so I'm going to find him and help and you're going to defer to what he says alright?"

Harry waited for the snide comment about Ron not being able to say anything. The Auror nodded.

"Whatever he says, if he has a plan it's got to be the best chance we've all got."

Harry almost smiled before hearing what sounded like a bookcase falling over and reaching to take the plank of wood from the Auror.

"Do you mind, only I've broken my lamp."

* * *

Hermione dragged Sam through the day room with her. He was getting heavier and his body was almost completely limp now. She guessed he had a concussion and kept trying to shake him awake but he was so much bigger and heavier than she was that in the end she settled for just getting him somewhere safe.

They passed through the, now shredded, plastic partition and she caught sight of the room the Aurors had locked Ron inside the last time she'd ever seen him. That would be their best chance, she thought, it was secure from the infected but there was a way outside that Ron had found. Maybe she could get Sam out the same way and they could find Ron and Harry. They stood a better chance out in the open than they did trapped in the clinic with the infected.

Sam groaned and Hermione muttered some reassurances to him as she struggled across the floor towards the door.

"Almost there Sam, not far now, we're going to be okay you'll see."

She reached the door and tried to turn the handle.

"No!" she whimpered, "Who's locked it? Why would anybody lock it?"

"Miss Granger?" a voice called out and then a familiar bark.

"Nurse Stour? Marmalade?" Hermione gasped, if the dog was in there then... "Ron?"

There was a shifting sound behind the door and then a click and Nurse Stour opened it and caught Sam and Hermione practically threw him into the unprepared woman's arms.

"Ron, are you in here?" Hermione called over the woman's shoulder.

"He went out to kill the infected people," a young woman who had hold of a struggling Marmalade called out, "said he'd bring back all the clean people he could find."

"Come inside with us Hermione," Nurse Stour said, knowing what was going through the young witch's mind already, "he'll be back again soon. He already sent Abigail back to us."

Hermione looked across the room at a smiling but shaken woman who was standing by a torn down wall.

"He's doing really well," Abigail nodded, "he wasn't frightened or anything. Ron's not scared of anything."

Hermione stepped outside again, pulling the door with her as she did.

"Oh I'm sure he's scared of me."

"He went that way!" A man called out and pointed back the way she had already come.

The door clicked shut and an almighty crash sounded in the direction the man had pointed her.

"Oh I bet he did!"

* * *

Ron crashed his iron into every pot pan, door, surface and wall he could see. He wanted to make as much noise as possible. He pulled out a drawer and emptied it contents all over the ceramic floor. Cutlery tinkled noisily and echoed off the walls. Soon he got what he was aiming for.

Three...five..._nine_ infected people came charging into the kitchen and he smiled at them.

The first in the group ran at him and Ron slid a metal tray along the floor with his foot. The oncoming infected man trod on it and it skidded away from under him. As he staggered forward Ron raised the iron and smashed it down onto the man's head with a sickeningly wet crack.

The man fell and stayed down, unmoving, he was dead.

Ron looked up at the remaining eight and made a beckoning gesture to them with his hand. They all ran at him and he jumped up onto the table in the centre of the room and ran across it to the door. He slammed it shut and locked it, locking himself inside with them, and turned to face them as they bundled into each other and turned around to run back the other way stupidly.

They weren't getting away from him. He was going to pick them off one by one.

Gripping the handle of the iron he gritted his teeth and charged forward, raising his domestic appliance, and punched the first infected person to reach him aside with his iron fist. He backhanded the second, who fell the other way, and flattened the third into the fourth with an uppercut to the jaw.

He turned to the four on the other side of the centre table and waited to see what they were going to do.

Two ran around to the left, one to the right, and one began crawling over the table towards him. That suited Ron to a tee, head first and hands supporting body weight there was nothing the man on the table could do other then receive his killer blow to the crown. Ron spun around and jumped backwards onto the edge of the table just as the three running around it were about to grab him. They slammed into each other and he crashed the iron down into one more skull.

Ron rolled off the table to the other side, leaving the dazed infected on the floor to regain their senses, and the two still standing snarled hungrily at him and trod on the bodies on the floor to get around the table to him. Ron swung the iron and smashed the jaw of the first attacker, an infected man, clean off. He winced and took another swing at the next one coming at him, a woman with long matted hair. She avoided the bow and clawed at him with her bloodied fingers. Ron leapt back out of reach and the jaw-less infected man let out an agonised cry and ran for Ron with outstretched arms.

Ron threw everything he had into crashing the pointed end of the iron into the man's head and with a sound that resembled a bludger crashing into a watermelon the iron embedded itself into the man's skull. He stumped over on the table, dead, and Ron reached for the iron but couldn't get it back out. The woman screamed like a banshee and threw herself at him. Ron sprang backwards, letting go of the jammed iron and falling into some white metal box with a heavy door, and the woman hurled herself at him with her wild matted hair obscuring her creamy white eyes.

Ron dodged her just enough to let her stagger past him and grabbed two handfuls of her hair as tightly as he could. The four other infected people were almost on their feet again now and Ron took the two seconds he had before they came at him to thrust the woman face first into the nearest wall. A huge blood spatter exploded against the white tile but Ron ignored it and slammed her face against the wall a second time.

Catching sight of the corner of the centre table out of the corner of his eye Ron spun around with the woman and slammed her face first into the corner. She dropped to her knees and stopped moving. Her pulped face was still jammed into the corner of the table, keeping her upright. She was dead.

Only four more to go, he thought, and walked backwards away from the encroaching group of bloodthirsty savages. He grabbed the handle of the iron once more and gave a tug. It didn't come loose. The nearest of the crowd of infected people had blood pouring from his mouth but wasn't distracted from his focus on Ron in any way by it. Ron pulled at the iron a little harder and it didn't give even a little. The man was closer now and Ron grabbed one of the large pots and threw it into his face before turning and bracing his foot on the impaled body's shoulder and pulling in the iron with all his might.

With a revolting squelch the iron came free and Ron staggered backwards and into the wall behind him just as the lead infected man was about to grab hold of him. Ron let the man's momentum carry him forward clumsily and broke his skull with a single blow of the iron.

Just three left now.

Ron gathered up his strength and threw the iron into an overhead storage rack above the small group's heads and the iron and all the gathered woks, baking trays, ladles and such came crashing down onto the heads of two of them. The third had already started running at Ron and he reached up to a wall cupboard and swung the door open forcefully. He hit the man full in the face and knocked him flying. Ron kicked him off balance even more and pulled down the heavy swing door of the large white metal appliance that he'd seen in Hermione's parents' kitchen.

Ron jogged backwards again to tease the man into coming at him again, which he did, and once more Ron kicked him backwards. This time the man fell across the open door and Ron jumped forward and grabbed the handle to force the heavy swing door closed on the infected man's head.

Again and again and again he slammed it. He kept slamming until the body stopped twitching and the last remaining pair of infected from the nine he had trapped in the kitchen with him were back on their feet. Ron let the door fall open and backed off as the final two loomed before him.

He had taken on seven and was still standing, there was no way he was going to let just two take him down.

He was backed right into the kitchen counter and they were advancing upon him with menace. Ron fumbled behind him and found a spoon. He silently swore and reached further for something, anything he could use to fend them off. He laid his hand on a long thin skewer and smiled. For all the things he was dreadful at there was one thing he could always fall back on...he was great with his hands.

He took aim and flung the skewer with pinpoint accuracy into the eyeball of the figure on the left. The man reeled back with a cry of pain and Ron grabbed a wooden chopping board with both hands and slammed it into the handle of the skewer, hammering the spike deep into the man's eye and into his brain. Without another sound the body hit the floor and Ron turned to face the last man standing.

Ron still brandished the heavy wooden chopping board in his hands and the infected man had nothing but his rage and his filthy blood. Ron waited for the attack and it never came. Instead the man turned and ran.

Ron blinked.

The bloke had actually run away from a mute with a chopping board.

Ron blinked again and then laughed soundlessly.

The infected man pushed and pulled on the door handle but had lost any wits about him to turn the small lock on the handle to get out. Ron took a deep breath and walked around the centre table, stepping over one, two, three bodies as he did so and slowly approached the last of the nine he had locked in the kitchen what felt like only seconds ago.

Cornered, the infected man turned on Ron and hissed. He ran at him waving his arms wildly but Ron ducked, spun around him like a matador dodging a bull, and clouted the man in the back of the head so hard the chopping board split in two.

Ron was panting heavily, surrounded by bodies, and covered in fresh and dried blood. He let both halves of the chopping board fall to the floor and leaned back against the door.

He might just be able to do this without getting killed.


	20. Reunion

**Reunion**

Harry broke his plank of wood, at long last, on the top of a huge man's bald head. The infected man dropped to his knees and then slammed down on his face, dead, and Harry threw down the four inches of plank he still had hold of and looked around, panting heavily.

He listened and, above the varied bangs and smashes from all over the clinic, he heard a muffled voice from inside a nearby room. It was a raised voice, several raised voices, followed by a commotion and Harry let the sound lead him down the corridor towards it.

"...what good does all of us just sitting in here do?" a raised voice shouted, a familiar raised voice, "I'm not suggesting we all go outside, just me. I can get help and I can lead help to you rather than you all barricade yourselves in here until you starve!"

"Neville?" Harry called as he ran down the corridor towards the door he thought he had heard his friend's voice coming from.

"Harry!" Neville said with great urgency, "Harry is it all clear?"

"No, stay in there, I'll come and find you when things ar-ooff!" Harry was winded as a tall figure burst from the kitchens and sprinted down the corridor towards him and then past, banging into Harry's shoulder as if he hadn't even seen him there.

Harry saw nothing but the mess of red hair and gasped, wide eyed, and spun around to gape at the narrow bare back. It was covered in freckles and blood and mud and it was unmistakeably Ron. Just as Harry was about to call after him he saw the red head glance over his shoulder and do one of the most comical double-takes he'd ever seen in his life and run straight into a wall.

Harry didn't laugh and Ron didn't flinch. They just stared at each other and blinked.

"Harry? What happened? Are you okay?" Neville called out worriedly.

Harry didn't say anything. He simply pointed behind him at the door Neville was behind and Ron nodded before pointing in the direction he had been running apologetically. Harry swallowed and nodded before calling down the corridor to his best friend, the great survivor, and pointed at him seriously.

"Stay alive," he ordered darkly, "_I'm_ the only one who's gonna be killing you today."

Ron smiled and winked before spinning around and running on down the corridor once again.

* * *

Hermione leapt over three dead bodies slumped in a heap across the doorway and skidded to a halt in the main entrance. Panting heavily she paused and listened as carefully as she could. 

There was something and nothing all at once. It was as if she could feel that somebody was moving nearby but she couldn't quite hear them. Frowning she gripped the medium sized cleaver she'd pulled out of the back of a nurse's skull and bit her lip as she turned in a circle and looked around the still clinic.

If all the infected were dead then where was Ron? Where were Harry and Neville? Something was about to happen and she didn't know what it was or where it would come from but she knew it was coming. She drew in a deep breath and let it out, cursing the pounding of her heart for interfering with her trying to listen for the next threat she'd have to deal with.

What if the next threat was Ron?

What if she had to deal with her Ron, only changed and with milky white eyes? She shuddered and told herself that Ron was a modern-day Houdini and that he could escape from anything. Something made her jerk her head upwards to the cordoned-off upper floor. She held her breath and gripped the handle of the cleaver tightly.

_Thud!_

She almost snapped at her heart to shut up as she listened carefully.

_Thud!_

She tiptoed towards the staircase the Aurors had blocked off after one of their men had been infected and then eliminated on the upper floor. She leaned around the wall and peered up the stairs.

_Thud!_

Just as she blinked she thought she saw a shadow passing against the wall and gasped. Her eyes were wide but now they could see nothing at all.

_Thud!_

She hated the silence; she wanted something, anything to drown out her heartbeat.

_Thud!_

She got it.

At the top of the stairs she heard a gurgling sound followed by a loud bang and then the floor shook with the thump of something heavy against the floorboards. Everything was still and silent once again and Hermione's eyes scanned the empty clinic again before turning back up the staircase. The place appeared to be clear apart from whoever was upstairs.

Telling herself Ron could be up there and in need of help she did the stupidest thing in the world and started up the stairs to the upper floor. She cringed as every single step creaked and groaned and eventually her nerves couldn't take it any more and she just thundered up the stairs noisily to get it over with.

Hermione bounded onto the upper floor, meat cleaver swinging wildly and teeth gritted but she appeared to be alone with some putrid corpses. She winced at the sight and the smell of the dead from the day before and waved a bluebottle away from her face with her hand before stepping forward.

Something had just fallen down hard and she was going to make sure that every body she could see really was dead. She swung the cleaver into the chest of the first body lying at her feet and the blade sunk in with a squelch and the body didn't flinch. Hermione shuddered and pulled the cleaver back out. It made a revolting 'shclooping' sound but she tried to shake it off and move on to the next dead body.

Just as she was about to swing the cleaver down into the back of a fallen Auror's neck she heard a creaking sound and spun around to see a salivating, white-eyed infected man with torn clothes staring at her. They both stood where they were in shock for a moment before the man roared and ran at her. Hermione set her jaw with determination and ran to meet the man, cleaver raised and ready to swing, and just as they were about to clash the blade slashed deeply across the man's throat and Hermione pirouetted around him and brought the cleaver down into his skull. The infected man fell and lay motionless.

Hermione wiped the gore covered blade off on the man's ragged shirt and then drew in a deep shaky breath and moved toward the door the infected man had come from. It was a shower block. The white tiles were streaked with red and some were broken as if a powerful impact had struck them. The fluorescent strip light flickered and buzzed as it swung from the ceiling casting moving shadows against the walls and ceiling.

A shower curtain ripped open and a naked woman, very skinny and with a flap of skin hanging off her shoulder, came screaming out and running right at Hermione with wild pearly white eyes. Hermione swung the cleaver underhand and up into the woman's neck. Blood poured from the woman's throat as she slumped and gurgled and Hermione worked the blade back and forth to ease it back out, she could see the silver glinting at the back of the woman's gaping mouth, and as she freed her weapon she took another swing and chopped the woman's head clean off.

The head bumped and rolled a little way and the sound turned Hermione's stomach but just as she was about to kick the head away from her she heard two sets of pounding footsteps coming at her from behind. She spun around and raised the cleaver.

A fierce looking man with cuts all over his face and chest was baring his teeth at her when two hands grabbed his head and turned it sharply, breaking the man's neck. The infected man fell to the floor and his white eyes rolled unsettlingly. While the filthy bare cheated figure set about caving in the fallen man's head a third infected person roared and ran at them. Hermione gulped and staggered backwards into the wall, the shower turning on above her as she knocked against the tap, and watched as the third person threw himself down towards the two on the floor.

The bare chested man who had just killed the person beneath him rolled away. The third figure landed on the dead body and began tearing at the flesh with his teeth. The bare chested man flung himself at the newcomer and they rolled into the corner grunting and snarling. Hermione stepped out of the flow of the water and lifted her cleaver.

Suddenly the two men rose up and the taller of the two began smashing the other's head into the ceramic tile. Hermione let out a squeal of shock and stumbled back beneath the water. She was shaking now. The infected were fighting over her. She'd be left with the strongest one to fend off. She inhaled deeply and gripped the handle of the cleaver.

White tiles turned pink and then red and shattered into fragments on the shower floor. The taller man was still beating the dead man's head against the wall. The muscles in his back were bulging and thick dried blood discoloured his skin. His hair was muddy coloured and his stance was like a wild animal primed for the kill. Hermione licked her dripping lips and gripped the cleaver with both hands.

She'd only get one swing at this one.

Panting so heavily the narrow but muscular shoulders rose and fell as if he was lifting weights the infected man released his hold on the dead man's broken head and watched him slump to the floor in a sagging heap. He turned his head and saw Hermione and his breath caught, body tensed, and the fluorescent light flickered between him and Hermione. Dark shadows and eerie light played across the face and she couldn't see through his hair to his dead eyes.

He suddenly ran forward towards her and she screamed and swung the cleaver at his throat.

_His throat._

He had a scar across his throat.

Hermione froze just as the cleaver reached the muddied and bloodied skin of his neck. He lifted his head and looked through his filthy fringe at her with intense blue eyes. He was standing perfectly still and his arms dangled at his sides. He wasn't attacking and he wasn't infected and he was...he was...

"Ron!"

In an instant Hermione dropped the cleaver, not caring how noisily it clattered to the ground, and threw her arms around Ron. She was laughing and crying and crushing him with her hug and soon she felt him holding her back and his thumping heart against her chest and short breaths in her hair.

"I thought...I nearly...Oh let me look at you!" Hermione babbled before pulling away and cupping Ron's dirty face in her hands and trying to rub the grime away with her thumbs, "You've got dirt on your nose, did you know?"

Ron's body shook with a silent laugh before her stepped in towards her and rested his head on her shoulder, sighing deeply. The water ran down Ron's back, washing away mud to reveal bruises that broke Hermione's heart, and she rubbed her palms to ease away the dried blood from the small of his back. Ron leaned back and she could see the red of his hair beginning to shine through again. She ran her hands through it to wash all the caked mud away. She felt blood matted in his hair too and soon felt a nasty bump beneath her fingers.

"You've taken quite a beating haven't you?" She smiled at him sadly as she watched the freckles coming back to his face and ran her hands over his chest to wince at scratches and marks the mud had been hiding.

Ron lifted his hand and pulled off a homemade bandage from one of his fingers before smiling.

"That's all is it?" Hermione laughed shakily, "Just a little mark on your finger eh?"

Ron struck his left thumbnail with the pad of his right thumb twice and nodded.

"All better now," Hermione agreed and fell into his arms, holding him close to her, "you scared me so much you stubborn git!"

Ron was holding her close and they were both soaked through but didn't care in the slightest.

"When we get home," Hermione began as she looked up at him and stroked his dripping face tenderly, "I am locking you in your bedroom, tying you to the bed, and sitting on you so you can never leave my sight again."

Ron's lips curled and his eyebrows waggled mischievously. Hermione laughed and punched him in the chest before standing on tip toes and pulling his face down to meet her half way as they parted their lips to kiss.

Hermione sighed into Ron's mouth and his hands were lost in her hair. They stroked each other's tongues hungrily and then began to fight for dominance, both wanting to draw the other into their mouth as deeply as possible. Hermione ran both hands down Ron's naked back and eased her fingers deep into his flesh as she reached the curve of his arse in the tight wet denim. Ron's jaw fell opened and he gasped, she always knew just how to get him to do what she wanted, and Hermione devoured his tongue as if it was meant to be inside her mouth more than it was his.

Ron pressed his body against Hermione's and let one hand fall from her hair, sliding down her arm and settling on her waist while thumbing his way under her sopping wet and now see through blouse to touch her skin, and Hermione moaned into his mouth. Ron had some techniques of his own too.

There was a bang and a door slammed against the wall and smashed clean off its hinges. The sound made Ron and Hermione jump apart. While Hermione stooped for the cleaver Ron tired to push her behind him so he could shield her. The light flickered and a huge man with cloudy eyes saw them and ran into the shower block.

While shoving each other out of the way and preparing to defend themselves from the attack the infected man batted the fluorescent tube away to get to them. It swung out and then back but it stopped jarringly. The light swung back and then smashed into the back of the man's head with an explosion of glass, gas and dust.

The man looked stunned and swayed on the spot for a moment before slamming down on his face before the two of them. Standing behind him was Harry, holding the end of the broken light, with a fiercely determined expression on his face.

"You alright?" He asked without blinking.

Ron nodded and Hermione answered.

"Yes, fine, we both fine. Are you...?"

Harry let the end of the light go and it swung away from him. He fanned the dust in the air away from his face and made his way over to them.

"Harry don't breathe that stuff in, it's really dangerous." Hermione said as she reached for him to pull him under the shower with them to wash off the particles from the broken light.

Ron snorted silently and Harry smirked.

"Because that's the thing likely to kill me in this place eh?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled both her boys into her close for a hug. She felt them holding her and each other and somehow she just knew they were still the untouchable trio. Nothing could stop them as long as they stayed together and kept their faith in one another.

"Still gonna kill you Weasley," Harry muttered, sounding slightly muffled.

"Not until I'm done with him you're not," Hermione sputtered on a mouthful of water.

Ron patted her on the back urgently and he must have done the same thing to Harry too because he was standing rigid and staring past them at a twitching body from the massacre outside. It was one of the bodies Hermione hadn't got around to checking yet. She lifted her cleaver and Ron reached to take it from her hand while Harry was trying to pull forward and out of their grasp.

"I'll take this one, Hermione give me the big chopper." Harry said without tearing his eyes from the infected man as he staggered to his feet and coughed up blood down the front of himself.

"Stop it with the one man saviour thing Harry," Hermione hissed, wrenching the cleaver away from Ron's prying fingers, "You too 'Mr Independence'. You've proved your point; you can cope on your own, now back off and let me deal with the bastard!"

The man was blundering over the bodies underfoot and Hermione was about to charge forward dragging Ron and Harry's bodies behind her as they tried to pull her back when there was a rhythmic but light thudding on the floorboards and then a flash of red fur flying across the doorway and into the man's chest. He staggered backwards and tripped over a corpse behind him before crashing out of the window and falling to the ground outside.

The three of them gaped as Marmalade barked happily and bounded over to Ron, leaping into his un-expectant arms and licking his face all over. Ron laughed and Hermione ruffled his fur, calling him a good and clever dog, and she felt glad for the first time in her life that Ron's dog hated to leave him to shower in peace.

Harry turned off the water and Marmalade shook his wet fur out all over the three of them before the whole building shook and shots rang out all over the place. They all froze and held each other until a beaming face peered in through the window at them.

"Sergeant Kerry Kerry at your service Marcel." The woman saluted Ron who laughed at her in amazement. "I got us a tank!" She said with pure delight, "Come on, get in and we'll send the boys in for the others. We're getting you all across the border en-masse."

The clambered over the bodies of the dead and Ron carried his dog all the way to keep him from getting blood on him after being cleaned off beneath the shower. Harry helped Hermione climb through the window and then took Marmalade from Ron and passed him through to her. There was a bit of a to-do over who went next but Ron slapped Harry around the back of the head and he went first, pulling Ron after him.

As they grabbed on tightly to the huge Muggle army tank Harry grinned at Ron before frowning.

"So who's this Marcel when he's at home?"

* * *

_A/N So just the epilogue and this one's done!_

_Thanks to all the adorable reviewers and the dedicatee Shocolate, who is co owner of Mute!Ron and the only one other than me, Harry, Hermione and Marmalade who is allowed to play with him!_


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Ron let go of Abigail's hand and tapped his chest twice with his thumbs.

"Ready?" Harry asked her.

Abigail nodded and took a deep breath as she stood in the doorway. Ron held his open hand near to his face and then closed it into a fist.

"Remember..." Harry translated before waiting for the rest.

Ron crossed his arms over each other and drew them apart sharply before pointing upward with his little finger. He nodded into the room and smiled.

"...there's nothing bad in there."

Ron put his fingertips together and then flung them outwards and to the sides. He then made small downward movements on his chest with his middle finger before touching his chin with his thumb and moving it away to the right and waving at his surroundings.

"We're going to leave you to live in this lovely place now okay?" Harry asked anxiously.

Abigail bit her lip and leaned inside her new room at the new clinic. She'd been living in the emergency quarantine zone for a month now, as had all the others, and Ron, Harry, Hermione and Neville had only been allowed to go home with a clean bill of health a fortnight ago. Fortunately this time around there was no segregation, everybody was in the same boat.

"I'll be on my own in here yes?" Abigail asked Ron nervously.

Ron frowned and held up his finger while his other hand crossed over from front to back.

"You're going to be lonely?" Harry asked her before adding his own question, "I thought you liked being alone, your little hiding place in the other room...?"

"I'm used to company now." Abigail smiled bashfully, looking away from Ron and Harry.

Ron nodded and pointed past his head behind himself. He pointed from outward in towards himself before gesturing to the crowd gathered in the new day room waiting to be shown their new rooms. He finished up by waving his hand from left to right over his flat palm.

"I understand, would you like to invite one of the others to share with you?" Harry smiled as he watched Abigail's face relax a bit and turn upward to smile at Ron.

She nodded and blushed. Ron put his hand under his fist and lifted it from Abigail towards the crowd of people in the day room.

"You could help them." Harry said with a nod of agreement.

Ron made a snatching motion and pulled his hand towards his forehead before making a bold gesture with his arm as if he was brandishing a sword.

"You could help them recover," Harry said as he beamed from Ron to Abigail.

"Yes," Abigail nodded eagerly, "I'd feel better if I had somebody to take care of."

Ron smiled and gave her a thumbs up before grinning at Harry. It was hard to believe that this gentle sensitive man was the same person who had single-handedly destroyed half the infected people in the old clinic that day. Harry had to put it down to Ron's clinical mind; that part of his brain that was so great at chess and that ordered him to put himself on the line for Harry, without any of the crippling fear he'd experience on seeing a harmless little spider crawling along the wall, and made him exceptionally brave but incredibly human at the same time.

Ron's eyebrows shot up into his hair and he bounded into Abigail's room to show her something. He put his finger to his lips as if he was shushing her and then kicked at the floorboard beside the bed. Abigail followed him inside and leaned forward curiously as Ron shouldered against the portrait above the spot he'd kicked and the whole wall swung open like a door. Abigail gasped and he looked extremely pleased with himself.

Ron rubbed the top of his fist with his palm and crossed his arms over each other. Harry marvelled at what Ron could do behind his back and stepped forward to get a closer look.

"You made her a hideaway?" Harry chuckled, impressed at how much better it was compared to the filthy space between the two walls Abigail used to have.

There was a skylight so the small space wasn't dark and she had a little seat that folded back into the wall and a shelf for anything she might want to have with her in her sanctuary. It wasn't fancy, Harry had more home comforts in his cupboard under the stairs, but it was better than having one of their patients clawing into the wall cavity for privacy.

"It's fantastic!" Abigail said as she threw her arms around Ron and hugged him tight.

Ron's ears blazed bright red and he gave her an awkward pat on the back before Marmalade came bounding in and launched himself between them with a frantically wagging tail.

"Yeah, you'd better watch it," Harry laughed while Abigail patted the happy orange dog, "he won't let anyone get their mitts on Ron apart from Hermione these days."

It appeared that something had sunk in during Ron and Hermione time on either side of the clear barrier. Marmalade and sensed just how much Ron wanted and needed Hermione's physical presence with him and now the animal was very protective of the two of them when they were...well let's say _intimate_.

Only that morning Harry had been making his way to the bathroom to give Ron a shout that it was time to set off for work when Marmalade appeared from nowhere and dragged Harry away from the bathroom door by the leg of his trousers. As Harry fell arse over tit on the hallway floor and Marmalade promptly sat on his chest and set about licking his face with his dog food scented tongue he realised that there were sounds coming from inside the smallest room of the house.

Ron was in there, Harry had seen him go in himself, and yet there were sounds...finally Harry had realised that Ron and Hermione were showering together and Marmalade was on guard duty. Harry shoved the dog off his chest and reached for his lead, hanging on a special peg by the front door, and fastened it to Marmalade's collar.

"Come on," Harry had said quietly, "I reckon we've got time to take you around the park for a quick walk before we go to work eh?"

Marmalade wagged his tail and they left the showering couple in peace.

Abigail went into the day room to find somebody who looked as if they could use some company to invite them to come and share her room while Ron made a note on his pad for somebody to bring an extra bed in for Abigail's roommate and shook his head at the long list of things he had already written on the to-do list.

"You're gonna be busy for a good long while aren't you Ron?" Harry smirked.

Ron raised his eyebrows and prodded himself in the chest before shaking his head smugly and then bringing tow fingers together sharply and nodding at Harry.

"Okay," Harry conceded as he took Ron's to-do list with a sigh, "we're _both_ going to be busy!"

* * *

_A/N So there goes another Mute!Ron and Harry story._

_I will only post one more multi chap fic before Deathly Hallows comes out and that's going to be the recovery fic to Within These Walls. It will be called Without Walls and don't worry, it won't be nearly as long as WTW was! I'm working on it now, have the first chap written already, and will start posting when I'v got a decent number of chapters written so I don't keep you lot waiting long for updates._

_Thanks to everybody who takes the time to review and I'm sorry if I've never responded to you, I try to with everybody at least once but y'know how it is?_

_'Till next time!_

_Shari (Solstice Muse)_


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